States v. Grubbs charges a woman with "criminally negligent homicide" for cocaine use while pregnant in Alaska.
Date: 1989
Geraldyne Grubbs, a 23-year-old white woman, is charged with manslaughter and two drug-related offenses for the death of her two-week-old infant. Facing a 30-year sentence, she accepts a plea bargain to the lesser charge of “criminally negligent homicide.” An autopsy states the infant’s death was caused by prenatal cocaine use, although the state later admits the autopsy was erroneous.
This is one of many cases where there is a lack of reliable scientific evidence proving harm to the fetus or newborn.