Last month New Mexico's courts ruled that child abuse statutes do not apply to the context of pregnancy and the fetus. This was a huge victory for National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW), for our allies, and for the women, children, and families of New Mexico.

For months, NAPW worked with a broad coalition of social justice organizations, medical professionals and treatment professionals to challenge the arrest of Cynthia Martinez. Local authorities had been trying to prosecute Ms. Martinez under New Mexico's child endangerment laws for carrying a pregnancy to term despite a drug problem—even though no state with the exception of South Carolina permits such prosecutions.

There are good reasons why 49 of the 50 states have refused to criminalize addiction during pregnancy. Every major medical association, from the American Medical Association (DOC) to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (PDF) recognizes that addiction is an illness that responds to treatment, not jail time (PDF). And all warn that expanding the war on drugs to women's wombs will negatively affect both maternal and fetal health.

As the March of Dimes says:

"Criminal prosecution of chemically dependent women will have the overall result of deterring such women from seeking both prenatal care and chemical dependency treatment, thereby increasing, rather than preventing harm to children and to society as a whole."

Still, dozens of women all across the country—the vast majority of them low-income women of color—are arrested each year for this non-existent "crime." Prosecutors attempt to apply child endangerment laws to the fetus as a means of finding mothers guilty of everything from child abuse and distribution of drugs to a minor (through breast milk or the umbilical cord) to murder (in the case of stillbirths).

Most of these women lack access to appropriate drug treatment.

The New Mexico victory is significant, not only because it sets two innocent women free (another woman was being held on the same charge, pending the Martinez decision), but because it will prevent similar future prosecutions in the state.

Equally significant are the lessons that reproductive justice advocates can glean from the New Mexico victory about how to fight these prosecutions. NAPW did not win the Martinez case single-handedly. One of our key contributions to challenging Ms. Martinez's arrest was to help coordinate a state and national organizing response with the Southwest Women's Law Center, the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), and numerous other organizations.

Working with the DPA, NAPW filed a public health amicus curaie brief with the New Mexico Supreme Court on behalf of over 30 amici in the fields of substance abuse treatment, medical science, research, child welfare, birthing rights, health and women's issues. And we helped organize a broad coalition of other groups filing amicus briefs in this case, including the ACLU, the National Women's Law Center, and PB&J Family Services, Inc. (a mental health and substance abuse treatment center in New Mexico). Other amici included the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, the American Public Health Association, Citizens for Midwifery, the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, and the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.

Together, we informed the Court that the state's prosecution of Ms. Martinez lacked foundation in law and medical science, interfered with the provider-patient relationship, undermined both maternal and fetal health, and ignored the fact that pregnant women, mothers and families lack access to family drug treatment in New Mexico.

The New Mexico Supreme Court listened.

During oral argument, the Justices referenced our public health amicus brief and expressed grave concerns about the deterrent effect such prosecutions would have on women seeking prenatal care. Their decision adds New Mexico to the list of 20 other state appellate courts that have determined that state child abuse statutes do not apply to the context of pregnancy and the fetus.

Treatment and education—not punitive measures that will drive women who need help underground—present the real solution to issues of drug use and pregnancy. It's time to press our legislators to pass legislation that positively impacts women's health. Increase funding to rural prenatal clinics. Increase funding to residential, family-based treatment centers that allow families to recover together. Increase the number of treatment centers and ensure that pregnant women are not left stagnating on waiting lists.

And it's time for reproductive justice advocates to replicate the broad-based coalition that worked together on the Martinez case in every matter concerning the rights, health and well being of women. Together we can be a powerful and effective force for change.