THE WAR AT HOME - POSITIVISM, LAW, AND THE PROSECUTION OF PREGNANT-WOMEN

The essay explores the relationship between positivist epistemology, l egal analysis, and the prosecution of pregnant women. Drawing on femin ist analysis of science, the paper argues that legal thought and pract ice have been seriously distorted by positivist perspectives, especial ly in terms of narrow notions of what constitutes cause and effect. Th e critique of positivism provides a basis for reconceiving legal respo nses to drug use by pregnant women that are consistent with expanded n otions of legal causation. Such an expansion provides the intellectual justification for expanding institutional interventions and encouragi ng a generally fairer and more satisfying politics.