Lawmakers look to make using drugs while pregnant a crime

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) - Wyoming lawmakers are proposing a bill that would create new drug crimes against infants.

KTWO-AM reports (https://bit.ly/2jj2DL2 ) that four Wyoming House representatives and a senator have backed House Bill 215, which would make taking drugs while pregnant or administering drugs to a pregnant woman a crime if the baby dies.

Drug-induced infant homicide would be a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Drug-induced infant abuse, a charge for if a baby does not die after the mother uses drugs while pregnant, would be a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

The bill would allow charged people to seek treatment for substance abuse as an affirmative defense for the charge.

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Information from: KTWO-AM, https://www.k2radio.com/