Good Intentions Are Not Enough: Truly Supporting Pregnant Women With Substance Use Disorders Requires Evaluating the Impact of Our Policies and Practices

Abstract

This is a commentary on Preis, Garry, Herrera, Garretto, and Lobel’s (2020) article “Improving Assessment, Treatment, and Understanding of Pregnancy Women With Opioid Use Disorder: The Importance of Life Context.” Here I discuss various public health policies (both supportive and punitive) that have been taken in the United States and those policy approaches impact (i.e., helpful and/or harmful) on pregnant women and their newborns. Any new approach, including application of the life-context theory in clinical practice, requires empirical validation before use can be recommended.

Keywords:

• Pregnant women
• opioid use disorder
• substance abuse
• public policy
• drug policy impact

Disclosure statement

The author has no conflicts to declare.