Advocates to NY Court: End Findings of Child Neglect Against Fathers for Failing to Control their Pregnant Partners

Nearly 50 organizations and individuals are urging the New York Court of Appeals to hear the case and clarify the law.

NEW YORK – Pregnancy Justice and the New York Civil Liberties Union; Children’s Rights and the Columbia Law School Family Defense Clinic; and Drug Policy Alliance – joined by dozens of other organizations – submitted “friend of the court” briefs in support of a legal motion asking the New York Court of Appeals to stop the unconstitutional practice of penalizing fathers for failing to control women’s actions during pregnancy.

Under New York’s Family Court Act, a father does not have a duty to control his pregnant partner and cannot be held responsible for failing to do so. In fact, forcing a man to control his partner during pregnancy infringes on her constitutionally protected rights to bodily autonomy, privacy, and equal protection. But a lower court’s decision in the case undermines New York’s commitment to women’s rights and reproductive freedom and is directly at odds with the sex equality protections enshrined in the state’s newly passed Equal Rights Amendment.

“Many men have been told to do the impossible and unjustifiable: control another adult or risk losing their own rights,” said Caitlyn Garcia, a staff attorney with Pregnancy Justice. “When the system that is supposed to help protect children and families is instead twisted to force men to exert control over pregnant women, something is terribly wrong. This isn’t where family courts should be focusing their time and resources. When we say reproductive rights aren’t just a women’s issue, this is exactly what we mean.”

“Forcing fathers to surveil their pregnant partners or face neglect charges threatens the dignity of New York’s families, exacerbates the harms and racial disparities of the family regulation system, and undermines children’s health, all while disrupting families,” said J.P. Perry, senior staff attorney at the New York Civil Liberties Union. “It also flies in the face of the New York Equal Rights Amendment, because requiring that pregnant women’s actions be controlled is pregnancy discrimination. We hope the Court of Appeals will take this case and ultimately uphold the rights of pregnant people and prospective fathers.”

In 2018, the New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) filed a neglect petition against a man, called Mr. B. in the motion. In family court, ACS argued that Mr. B. failed to stop his partner from using drugs while she was pregnant with their child, constituting child neglect. In 2023, the family court found that Mr. B. neglected his child because he “knew or should have known” that his partner was using drugs during pregnancy and that he “failed to exercise a minimum degree of care to stop her.” The ruling set into motion proceedings that led to Mr. B. surrendering his parental rights.

The New York Appellate Division, First Department upheld the family court’s finding of neglect, denying Mr. B.’s request to appeal to the Court of Appeals. Mr. B. has now filed a motion – brought by The Bronx Defenders, the Family Justice Law Center, and the NYU School of Law Family Defense Clinic – directly asking the Court of Appeals to hear his appeal and to end New York’s unfair and unlawful practice of finding men guilty of child neglect for failing to control their pregnant partner’s actions.

“A substantial body of research has repeatedly demonstrated that forced parental separations inflict severe and lasting trauma on the very children the state claims to protect. Allowing the Appellate Division ruling to stand would perpetuate this harm and reinforce perverse incentives for fathers to withdraw from family life,” said Hina Naveed, policy and legal analyst at Children’s Rights. “The right to family integrity is among our oldest and most fundamental. We urge this court to grant review and correct a decades-long error that denies families their constitutional rights.”

“The consensus among medical and public health organizations is that the use of controlled substances during pregnancy is a health issue that should focus on fostering open communication between family members and health care providers to encourage support and access to voluntary treatment,” said Melissa Moore, director of civil systems reform at Drug Policy Alliance. “We urge the Court of Appeals to take this case and make clear that the scientifically unsound and discriminatory assumptions of the ‘war on drugs’ should not continue to separate families and cause lasting harm to children, particularly children of color.”

In an unprecedented show of support in such a case, nearly 50 reproductive rights, children’s rights, social justice, legal services, and civil rights organizations and individuals have signed onto the legal briefs from Pregnancy Justice and the New York Civil Liberties Union; Children’s Rights and the Columbia Law School Family Defense Clinic; and Alianza sobre políticas de drogas, all in support of Mr. B.

The Pregnancy Justice report “Dañar a los padres: cómo el sistema de tribunales de familia obliga a los hombres a regular el embarazo,” identifies at least 56 cases in 14 states where a father’s lack of control over a pregnant person, usually the pregnant person’s drug or alcohol use, was found to constitute civil child abuse or neglect on his part. New York is the worst offender of the practice, followed by Texas.

This represents state-mandated patriarchal control that is reminiscent of a time when women were first the property of their fathers and then their husbands. As a direct result of these cases, rooted in the underlying false premise that fetuses should have legal rights, many men across the country have lost their parental rights.

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Pregnancy Justice advances and defends the rights of pregnant people, no matter if they give birth, experience a pregnancy loss, or have an abortion. No one should lose their rights because of pregnancy.