Barriers to Addressing Substance Use in Pregnancy: The View from Virginia 

Featuring

[Moderator] Jessica Shortall, Safer From Harm Coalition and Strategic Partnerships Lead, Integrated Harm Reduction, R Street Institute

Stacey McKenna, Resident Senior Fellow, Integrated Harm Reduction, R Street Institute

Julie Peck, Lead Peer Navigator, Healthy Brain and Child Development Study, Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech

Kalie Owen, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Certified Substance Abuse Counselor, OB MOTIVATE Program, Virginia Commonwealth University

Overview

Untreated opioid use disorder in pregnancy poses serious risks to mothers and infants alike. Some risks come from the drugs themselves; others come from policies and practices that erect significant barriers to care.

Join R Street’s Stacey McKenna and Jessica Shortall for a discussion with Virginia experts Julie Peck and Kalie Owen. Peck and Owen have devoted their careers to caring for mothers and infants impacted by opioid use disorder and by the systems and policies that put them at greater risk. Topics will include: 

• Why medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) are the best treatment option for both mothers and infants.
• Why Virginia law treats MOUD the same as recreational substance use in pregnancy and what can be done to change this. 
• How infrastructure gaps and a culture of fear and uncertainty put moms and infants at greater risk by preventing women from accessing evidence-based care.
• What tools are available in Virginia to help keep families together safely.