Pregnant women and drug use

Should pregnant women who use illicit drugs be prosecuted? At first glance, these words leave a terrible taste in your mouth. Any healthy and sane human being will most certainly agree that the use of any such dangerous drug during pregnancy is an issue that demands action. The unborn child is helpless and unable to take part in any decision that directly affects their well-being. It is only human to feel that a woman who robs her child of the right to live a normal, healthy life should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. However, throughout my research of this topic, I have found this question to be harder to answer than I had originally thought.
A doctor delivers a child who doesn’t have the opportunity to even experience one breath of fresh air; the child is born without a heartbeat. Another child is born with horrifying defects resulting from excessive alcohol abuse. A child is born HIV positive because his mother decided to use the community needle to de...