Skip to main content

The timeline can be navigated with the “Scroll Left” and “Scroll Right” buttons or by dragging the pointer to a date on the timeline waveform (located at the bottom of the screen on the desktop version and on the left of the screen on mobile). To filter by a particular topic and see a smaller section of the data, make a selection on the dropdown “Filters” menu or click “Search” to do a keyword search. Hover over the abbreviated filter tags in the blue boxes to see the complete name of the filter, or click a filter to display all the data with this tag. If you want to take a deeper dive into a specific topic by viewing a narrative essay page and a curated timeline, click on “Stories.”

Read More

People v. Jaurigue charges woman with feticide for cocaine use while pregnant in California.

1992

CHIL
OC
LEG
DRUG

Rosann Mercedes Jaurigue is the first woman to be charged under a 1970 California homicide law that includes feticide for using cocaine while pregnant. Seven states have already denied attempts to prosecute prenatal drug use.

The District Attorney claims Jaurigue’s substance use caused the placenta to separate from the uterus, cutting off blood and oxygen to her stillborn fetus. However, the San Benito County Superior Court dismisses the charges against her, finding that the law was not intended to apply to pregnant women in relation to their own bodies.