5 years after giving birth, a Mississippi mother was arrested for a felony based on a postnatal drug test

Brandy Moore , a mother of four who lives in Leake County , Mississippi , was recently arrested for a felony because she decided not to have an abortion back in 2019 , when the procedure was still legal in her state.

LZ Granderson: Moore's legal ordeal stemmed from surreptitious drug tests at the hospital where she gave birth to her daughter Remi in 2019 .

He says Moore 's experience is striking in several ways: She stopped using meth around the middle of her pregnancy after a religious epiphany inspired her to reject abortion and turn her life around.

Granderson says it's not hard to see why women who use illegal drugs during pregnancy are treated as criminals.

Mississippi Today and The Marshall Project found 44 women across the state arrested for felony child abuse or child endangerment after their newborns tested positive for drugs.

Such cases lead to family separation, intrusive surveillance, and criminal punishment.

The threat of criminal penalties might even tip the scale in favor of abortion.