Push to End Drug Testing of Maternity Patients and Their Newborns Without Prior Consent

April 14, 2025

Two recent news reports about how non-consensual drug testing of maternal patients and their babies triggers unwarranted child removal at hospitals and other clinical care settings.

New Mom Says She Was Drug Tested Without Consent

ABC News reporter Eva Pilgrim interviews new parents and advocates who are working to change laws surrounding drug testing for pregnant patients and their newborns after misinterpreted results led to inappropriate CPS intervention.

Why Some Doctors Are Pushing to End Routine Drug Testing During Childbirth

Shoshana Walter writes for Mother Jones that hospitals routinely report parents to child welfare authorities based on error-prone drug tests. Some hospitals are changing policy as a result.

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New York State law dispels the notion that a positive drug test indicates child maltreatment. However, test-and-report practices at hospitals and other clinical care settings continue to result in forced child separation that interferes with a crucial time of parent-newborn bonding.

All New Yorkers should feel safe accessing prenatal and obstetric care without having to sacrifice their privacy, dignity, bodily autonomy, and parental rights.

Learn more about this issue and efforts to effect change at Informed Consent NY.