Response 3 Gender Issues in California s Perinatal Substance Abuse Policy Children Are Suffering October 30
In 1990, California passed a law that dealt with the consumption of drugs and alcohol by a pregnant mother, named SB 2669. The purpose of SB 2669 was to see if the side effects in which these harmful substances can cause are a form of child abuse or not. However, this topic goes back to the 1970’s and 80’s where scientists discovered how alcohol and drugs during pregnancy do cause problems to the newborn, affecting it for life. ... California was interested in this situation because they felt that these women were hurting these defenseless fetus and nothing was being done about it. This became a big issue because no one really knew if this type of abuse was a form of child abuse or not, therefore California took action.