The highly public Stewart case is brought against a young white woman, Pamela Rae Stewart, whose infant son tested positive for methamphetamine after birth and died five weeks later.

This case is eventually dismissed, but this does not deter other zealous prosecutors from targeting pregnant women by extending criminal statutes intended for other purposes to the fetus and pregnant women. In fact, medical and social workers frequently contact legal authorities when they suspect a woman of maternal drug use in this era.

The Stewart case likely receives significant media attention because it takes place at the height of the "crack scare" in the U.S., during which the "new" social problem of maternal drug use is constructed.