A woman’s right to choose between having custody of her children or substance abuse treatment is a difficult choice.  

April Lee was drugged and sexually assaulted at a bar in Philadelphia, Penn. She was unable to identify the assailant and did not want to relive the traumatic experience, according to Mother Jones.

As a result, Lee coped by masking her trauma with opioid drug use. She made a decision to live as a functioning addict. 

“You take [drugs] and you don’t feel anything,” Lee said. “I was able to take the kids back and forth to school. Go to the laundromat, go to the corner store. The drugs made it easier, or so I thought.”

Lee said, she would rather use drugs than be separated from her children. The limited childcare in drug treatment is the primary reason why women do not seek treatment. They fear being separated from their child.

State and federal officials have been aware of the lack of drug rehab for mothers dating back to the disastrous 1980s crack cocaine epidemic, noted Mother Jones. 

The federal government has implemented instructions to state agencies to set aside funds for drug treatment of new mothers, but few states have met that requirement.

Research by The Marshall Project has uncovered that state governments that punish women for drug use during pregnancy have higher rates of overdose and infants showing signs of drug withdrawals, stated the news article.

The Marshall Project says that studies show newborns taken from their mothers are less likely to smile, compared to children who were not removed.  When a mother and child remain together during the mother’s rehab, there is a better outcome for the mother and child.

“It’s a dead end. There are no facilities out there to help them,” said Eloisa Lopez, a former member of Arizona’s maternal mortality committee. 

Lee’s own mother struggled with cocaine addiction; her mother never had the option to receive treatment. When Lee was a teenager, her mother passed away from complications related to AIDS, likely contracted during her addiction.

Lee ultimately entered a recovery center, and after years in treatment, she was reunited with her children. She now helps women whose children have been removed due to their substance abuse. 

Lee still finds it challenging to get women into treatment; they have been labeled a moral failure by law enforcement. For many women, that lack of treatment remains a matter of life and death, according to Mother Jones.