User:Johnsonjerry96/sandbox

Before Ferguson v. City of Charleston
Before Ferguson v. City of Charleston, black women were disproportionately arrested immediately after delivering their children. This allowed the government to control and monitor the African American population by placing them into yet another perpetual cycle of systematic observation and oppression. The lack of treatment facilities that catered to pregnant women in the state of South Carolina meant that these women were placed in drug treatment facilities that were meant to treat substance abusers of all kinds. These programs treated pregnant women as convicted felons and further fueled the War on drugs by placing people who were victims of their circumstances under governmental control, and blacklisted them from society. Before Ferguson v. City of Charleston, the children of women who were convicted of distributing drugs to a minor, and child neglect had a fate that was arguably worse than their mother. After the mother was arrested, the Medical University of South Carolina placed the children into a perpetual cycle of governmental supervision by making no arrangements for their transportation or childcare. They left childcare up to the state, and governmental authorities, this fed the statistic that black people are more likely to be monitored by the government than their white counterparts.

After Ferguson v. City of Charleston
Ferguson v. City of Charleston made it illegal for public hospitals to involuntarily drug test patients, which arguably created a better environment for children and mothers. According to the mothers that were being tested, the positive side of Ferguson v. City of Charleston is that doctors, nurses, and the government are unable to place women and children in prison systems, and foster care facilities, that heighten their chances to live below the poverty line for the duration of their life. According to Ferguson v. City of Charleston, South Carolina: "Fetal Abuse," Drug Testing, and the Fourth Amendment, the negative effect of Ferguson v. City of Charleston is that although women were reunited with their children, Ferguson v. City of Charleston placed a stigma on drug treatment and prenatal care, which contradicted the alleged goals of the program. The state of South Carolina witnessed the decline of pregnant women who entered into drug treatment facilities following the Supreme Court decision. This negative connection between prison, prenatal care, and drug treatment facilities lessened the chances of a pregnant women, or mother with a newborn to seek help for their drug addiction.

Effects on Incarcerated Women
During the beginning of the testing, women were given no second chances. For those who tested positive, or whose children tested positive after birth, were arrested without time to recover from labor, and commonly charged with distribution of drugs to a minor, and child neglect. An amnesty program was presented after protest occurred, but changed little about the arrest. Women who tested positive were still shackled to their bed with handcuffs, but were handed two letters instead of being hauled off to jail. One letter gave them the option to join a substance abuse program, and the other indicated that if they failed to comply with substance abuse counseling, their child would be taken away and they would be arrested by police and prosecuted by the Office of the Solicitor. At the time of Ferguson’s arrest, there had not been a residential drug treatment facility that was created to rehabilitate pregnant women.

The pre-existing social inequalities at the time led African American women to be drug test ed, and the results or those tests were reported to the government at a rate ten times higher than white women, therefore they were more likely to be sent to jail. African American women are treated at public hospitals, have probation officers, welfare caseworkers, and are subject to governmental supervision at rates higher than white women because of their likelihood to live below the poverty line. These factors all contribute to their drug test s being easier to detect by governmental agencies and police. Ferguson v. City of Charleston leveled the playing field by stopping involuntary drug test ing in public hospitals, which disproportionately hurt black women.

Impact on Black Women
The practice of drug test ing women to ensure that their children were raised in a safe environment turned out to be punitive rather than helping the mother and the child. The late 80’s and early 90’s are seen as the height of The War on drugs and pushed for zero tolerance and maximum punishment. This period intersected with the shift of the pro-life movement’s strategy to embrace fetal rights rather than focus on an anti-abortion campaign. Within a matter of time, 60 percent of everyone behind bars in Federal Penitentiaries was there because of drug involvement. The War on drugs took away strong male role models from the African American households, but were yet to incarcerate black women at the same rate. The Medical University of South Carolina attempted take black mothers away from their children by using their patient’s period test as drug test unbeknown to them, then report positive test to the police so the mothers would be incarcerated. MUSC was the hub for testing pregnant women’s urine samples in the state of South Carolina, it also happened to be the only hospital in Greenville County that treated poor people. During the height of women being arrested at MUSC for failing a drug test, all but one were black, and the nurse purposely put a note that the child’s father was of African American descent. Although black women were arrested at a rate infinitely higher than white women, a study later showed that pregnant African American women and pregnant white women use drugs at a similar rate. The government and the hospital were responsible for African American women being targeted. It was known that the leading cause of Intellectual disability in children was because of fetal alcohol syndrome, but banning alcohol was not politically feasible. Instead, they chose to target the crack epidemic, which was associated with black people. Ignoring the causes of what affected children the most, and putting the blame on African American women allowed the government to place black women in the center of those incarcerated because of the War on drugs.