Date of Award
Spring 5-1-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Economics
First Advisor
Dr. Partha Deb
Second Advisor
Dr. Matthew Baker
Academic Program Adviser
Dr. Matthew Baker
Abstract
This paper examines the effects of punitive and priority treatment policies relating to the use of illicit substances during pregnancy on women's health and health-related behavior. Punitive interventions criminalize substance use during pregnancy, which can even lead to termination of parental rights. In contrast, priority treatment policies support pregnant women and grant them priority access to substance use disorder treatment programs. I use staggered difference-in-differences methods and data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data from 2004 to 2018 to estimate the impact of prenatal substance use policies on women's mental health, physical health, self-reported poor health, and cigarette consumption. The findings suggest that punitive interventions increase bad mental health days by 0.22 days, bad physical health days by 0.19 days, and poor health by 0.43 days. I find no statistically significant evidence that priority treatment interventions improves women's health and behavior.
Recommended Citation
Alam, Zukruf, "The Effect of Prenatal Substance Use Policies on Women's Well-being" (2026). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_sas_etds/1563
