Filed
6:00 a.m. EST
02.18.2026
The Marshall Project found 70,000+ allegations of pregnancy drug use referred to law enforcement, often based on unreliable drug tests.
A recent Marshall Project investigation revealed that state child welfare agencies shared allegations of pregnancy substance use with law enforcement more than 70,000 times over a span of six years. These allegations are often based on unreliable drug testing at childbirth, which can return false positives as much as half the time.
Claims of pregnancy drug use led new mothers to be interrogated in their hospital rooms, arrested by police and charged with offenses that carry sentences of up to 10 years in prison. Police removed newborns from their parents’ custody due to false positives triggered by prescription medications, common foods like poppy seeds and legal CBD gummies.
Referral practices vary widely depending on the state. In Oklahoma, one in every 24 births resulted in a law enforcement referral, The Marshall Project found. Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, one in every 5,298 births was referred.
Use the tools below to explore the data and policies in your state. Scroll to the bottom to learn more about our methodology.
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In Alabama, the state’s child welfare agency accepted at least 3,403 reports of alleged substance use during pregnancy over six years. It’s unclear how many were referred to law enforcement because the federal program that collects the data did not provide it to The Marshall Project. States are not required to report this information.
Child welfare officials said counties have their own agreements with local police and district attorney’s offices about what child abuse and neglect reports are shared with law enforcement. Referral practices vary across the state.
We spent a year gathering and verifying this data with state and federal agencies, and we’re making it available to the public for the first time. We’re also publishing summaries of child welfare policies, which we fact-checked with state officials, explaining what circumstances lead to a law enforcement referral. You can learn more about our reporting process and download the data on our methodology page.
If you are a journalist or researcher interested in investigating the consequences of hospital drug testing at childbirth, we’ve designed a reporting toolkit with free data visualizations, a FOIA template, advice on finding impacted sources, and an interactive tool so people can look up the policies and data in their states. If you’re interested in learning more, you can fill out this form to schedule a consultation.