Oklahoma Is Prosecuting Pregnant Women for Using Medical Marijuana [themarshallproject.org]

Carey Sipp 9/16/2211:35 AM

By Brianna Bailey, Photograph: Brianna Bailey/The Frontier, The Marshall Project, September 13, 2022

Two district attorneys have targeted
mothers with child neglect felonies.

NEWKIRK, OKLA. — Early in her pregnancy, Amanda Aguilar struggled with severe nausea that sometimes made it hard to eat.

A doctor had previously approved a medical marijuana license for her, so she used pot to ease her morning sickness.

Aguilar, 33, said she stopped using marijuana after her third month of pregnancy and tested negative for the drug after her healthy son was born in October 2020. But the hospital found traces of marijuana in her baby’s stool.

Two months later, the district attorney in Aguilar’s mostly rural county near the Kansas border charged her with child neglect, a felony. She has decided to fight the charge, and recently declined to comment on the advice of her public defender.

[ Click here to read more. ]

Add Comment

Comments (0)

<ul id="{%=id%}ButtonGroup" class="button-group h-popup-buttons even-button-group even-1">
    <li id="{%=id%}Okay_buttonContainer"><a id="{%=id%}Okay" href="javascript:void(0);" class="button success no-margin-bottom h-alert-modal-ok-button" role="button">OK</a><script type="text/javascript">
        (function() {
            function {%=id%}Okay_click(event, data) {
            {%=id%}Popup.hide();
        }
        
                $('#{%=id%}Okay').on('click', {%=id%}Okay_click);
        })();
    </script></li></ul><a href="javascript:void(0);" class="close-reveal-modal" aria-label="Close Modal">&#215;</a><div class="last-modal-focus focus-utility-element" tabindex="0"></div>
</div>
<script type="text/javascript">
        (function() {
            {%=id%}Popup = new SS.Popup.ModalPopup('{%=id%}');
        })();
    </script>

Skip to main content

Two district attorneys have targetedmothers with child neglect felonies.

Add Comment

Membership Required

Remove From Your Block List

Manage Follow Preferences

Block

Please wait...

Two district attorneys have targeted
mothers with child neglect felonies.