Pregancy Advocates Outraged After Woman Gets 4 Years In Prison After Miscarriage, Drug Use

A 21-year-old Oklahoma woman was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to four years in state prison due to a “miscarriage from drug use."

Brittney Poolaw, a member of the Comanche Nation, was convicted in early October after prosecutors argued that her miscarriage was due to using methamphetamine. Poolaw was 19 years old and 17 weeks pregnant when she suffered the miscarriage.

A medical examiner's report said that her miscarriage, “could have happened due to genetic anomaly or placenta abruption.” Methamphetamine was found in the baby's liver and brain. The report did not find an exact cause of death.

"First-degree manslaughter may occur when there is no intent to kill and the death occurs during the commission of a misdemeanor (e.g., an accident while driving with a suspended license accidentally causes the death of another),” an Oklahoma law firm states on its website.

"The issue that jumps out to me initially is how the state was able to prove that it was in fact the meth usage that was the proximate cause of the death," Tyler Box, an attorney in Oklahoma City, told USA Today in an email.

The National Advocates for Pregnant Women has addressed Poolaw's case and plans to aid her legal efforts.

"Ms. Poolaw’s case is a tragedy. She has suffered the trauma of pregnancy loss, has been jailed for a year and half during a pandemic, and was charged and convicted of a crime without basis in law or science. We are supporting Ms. Poolaw as she explores her legal options, and we are working to ensure that this type of injustice does not happen again," NAPW said in a statement.

The website for NAPW offers ways for the public to help Poolaw.

“This prosecution went forward against somebody who had a pregnancy loss before the fetus was considered viable,” Lynn Paltrow, executive director of the NAPW, told the Associated Press. “In this case, you not only have a miscarriage rather than a stillbirth early in pregnancy, but the medical examiner’s report doesn’t even claim that methamphetamine was the cause.”