Defending Women Charged with Crimes in Relationship to Pregnancy

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers presents this webinar with attorneys from National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW), with the goal of expanding NAPW's nationwide network of criminal defense lawyers who have the training and tools needed to provide excellent representation in cases of women being criminally charged or otherwise punished in relationship to pregnancy. Women who have been prosecuted in relationship to pregnancy have been charged in cases such as homicide, feticide, criminal child endangerment or abuse, abuse of a corpse, criminal abortion, and other crimes. When women are punished in relationship to pregnancy - whether for creating risks of harm or for the outcome of the pregnancy (e.g., miscarriage, stillbirth, infant death, or termination through abortion) - the primary targets for arrest are low-income women and women who have become pregnant and used a controlled substance. 
This training will focus on the issues that arise when a woman is prosecuted on allegations that she did something intended to terminate her pregnancy. Because such cases build on and are similar to more common prosecutions of pregnant women who use controlled substances, those issues will also be addressed. Using a scenario drawn from actual cases, we will present a legal, ethical, and strategic discussion of the many issues that criminal defenders and their clients will face and the arguments that can be made to get such charges dismissed.