This amicus brief was filed before the Kentucky Supreme Court in February 2009 by a group of law school clinical programs and human rights and social justice groups. The brief was filed in support of Ms. Ina Cochran, who is being prosecuted by the state of Kentucky for child endangerment after testing positive for drugs shortly after giving birth to her daughter. The amicus brief argues that the prosecution contravenes both the state’s Maternal Health Act and international legal and health standards protecting women’s access to confidential and non-discriminatory maternal and pre-natal health care.
The amicus brief was signed by: Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic, Columbia Law School Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic, Leitner Center for International Law & Justice at Fordham Law School, Criminal Justice Clinic at Hofstra Law School, Constitutional Litigation Clinic at Rutgers School of Law – Newark , Anti-Sexism Committee of the National Lawyers Guild, Center for Reproductive Rights, International Mental Disability Law Reform Project in the Justice Action Center at New York Law School, International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Programme at the University of Toronto, Justice Now, Southwest Women’s Law Center, Jamie |O’Connell (University of California, Berkeley School of Law, International Human Rights Law Clinic), and Mindy Jane Roseman (Harvard Law School, Human Rights Program).
Oral arguments in the case will take place on Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 10am eastern time. You can view the live stream of the proceedings via this link: http://courts.ky.gov/supremecourt/oralargcalendar.htm
