In the first year after the Supreme Court ended the federal right to an abortion, a record 200

women faced criminal charges for behavior related to pregnancy, abortion, pregnancy loss, or birth.

The Supreme Court decision emboldened prosecutors to develop more aggressive legal strategies

to charge and imprison pregnant women and new mothers. But even prior to the

overturning of Roe, hundreds of women faced such charges. Special correspondent Sarah

Varney traveled to South Carolina to speak with one family still grappling with the impact.

There's an empty seat at the table every time Lauren Smith and her family go out for lunch in Greenville, South Carolina.

In 2019, Lauren delivered a healthy newborn baby she named Audrey.

A few days later, a caseworker told Lauren she would not be bringing her home.

I was completely blindsided.

Never in a million years what I have thought, that's what would have been told to me. Never.

It was so bad I couldn't even like look at diaper commercials. I would just cry.

A urine drug screen taken without her permission showed she had used marijuana sometime during her pregnancy.

After two rounds of drug testing, her baby tested positive for THC, a compound found in marijuana.

How did you think about marijuana use in your pregnancies, all of them?

It was a way for me to be able to keep food down.

I worked full time up until I was seven months.

So dealing with all the discomfort and the pain, it helped.

It helped with my anxiety, my depression.

The CDC cautions against using marijuana during pregnancy,

but it says that more research is needed to fully understand the impacts of THC on fetal development.

Still, six months after giving birth, Lauren was arrested and charged

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