South Carolina arrested Brenda Kay Peppers for delivering a stillborn with traces of cocaine in its system and charged her with child abuse. Ms. Peppers accepted a plea agreement and then challenged her conviction on constitutional issues before the South Carolina Supreme Court. DPA submitted an amicus brief focusing on the harm to maternal and fetal health that such prosecutions pose. The State Supreme Court dismissed the case on procedural grounds, claiming that the original plea agreement was legally flawed, without addressing the substantive issues of the case.