MUSKINGUM COUNTY, Ohio (WCMH) – A 29-year-old woman is facing a possibility of 16 ½ years in prison after being found guilty of taking drugs while pregnant, which prosecutors believe is the first time a pregnant woman has been found guilty of doing so in Ohio.
According to the Muskingum County Prosecutors Office, the woman was found guilty of corruption with drugs during a trial Thursday. The prosecutor’s office said the woman’s child was born addicted to drugs.
The woman is not being named to protect the identity of the child.
The woman faces up to 11 to 16 ½ years in prison.
According to the prosecutor’s office, the woman was pregnant last May when she tested positive for fentanyl use.
The prosecutor’s office believes this is the first case in the state where a pregnant woman has been convicted under an Ohio law which makes it illegal for someone to give illegal drugs to a pregnant woman. In this case, the woman was found guilty of taking the drugs herself.
In a statement released by the prosecutor’s office, the defense argued the law did not apply in this case because the woman took the drugs herself and that the law only applied when someone else gives drugs to a pregnant woman. The judge in the case, Judge Kelly Cottrill, denied the defense’s argument.
