Why

Invitation / Action

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Reflection Questions

Reflect

Research

Practice

Imagine

Harm reduction is a commitment to ensuring people’s bodily autonomy, privacy, and consent
People run the risk of getting kicked out of school, employment, and accessing public benefits on the basis of drug screenings
Families are often separated based on drug testing, entangling them in the family regulation system
Neither criminalization nor coercive drug treatment programs are helpful interventions
Refusal to consent to testing should not lead to calling security or police

Refuse to test people without their consent, unless they are in critical condition and unable to communicate, and testing is necessary to inform care
Sign onto the NY informed consent campaign. They especially need medical providers to show support.

Battling an Unjust System: How the War on Drugs Stole My Daughter by Dinah Ortiz
Putting an End to Drug Testing - Drug Policy Alliance
Pregnancy and Substance Use: A Harm Reduction Toolkit - National Harm Reduction Coalition
Learn about the work of Drug Policy Alliance, Movement for Family Power, JMacforFamilies, Bronx Defenders and Brooklyn Defender Services

Read and discuss the article ‘“Do No Harm” Like You Mean It: Hospital Workers’ Role in the Policing of Pregnant Women’
- What laws are leveraged to test and criminalize pregnant people for drug use?
- How does racism shape the passing and implementation of these laws?

How does your state handle drug or alcohol use during pregnancy? Check out Maternity Drug Policies by State
How many drug treatment programs and facilities in your community offer care to pregnant people and parents?

Learn more about harm reduction and drug-use during pregnancy through the National Harm Reduction Coalition’s ‘Pregnancy and Substance Use Toolkit’ .
How are these approaches are aligned with your workplace’s current practices and how do they diverge from them? How can you work to narrow the gap?

Read Anne Boyer’s piece “No”.
- Think about powerful moments in history that required a politics of refusal.
- Imagine a world where consent, respect and autonomy is centered, and power relations are not abused. What are the barriers in the way of such a world? How can they be knocked down?