Filed
6:00 a.m. EDT
04.25.2025
The reporting uncovered the impression of widespread drug testing on pregnant folks.
Susan Horton helps her youngsters throughout playtime of their residence in Cotati, California, in July 2024.
The Marshall Challenge has been honored as a finalist for the 2025 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting for its collaborative collection revealing widespread drug testing of birthing sufferers in hospitals throughout the nation and its destructive penalties. This investigative work, produced in partnership with Reveal, Mom Jones and USA Right this moment, was spearheaded by reporter Shoshana Walter, with contributions from Marianne McCune and the workers of The Marshall Challenge and Reveal.
The collection uncovered how hospitals administer unreliable drug checks to birthing sufferers, resulting in unwarranted baby welfare interventions. In lots of circumstances, moms had been reported for optimistic checks triggered by the medicines the hospitals themselves gave them throughout labor. The investigation started with the story of a mom whose optimistic methamphetamine take a look at was falsely triggered by a typical blood stress remedy. Walter uncovered quite a few different circumstances, together with a girl who ate a poppy seed salad that resulted in a false optimistic opiate take a look at and the short-term removing of her new child. The reporting highlighted the excessive false-positive charges of urine screens and the ensuing threats many new mother and father face from baby welfare companies.
Walter carried out in depth interviews with a whole bunch of pregnant folks and birthing sufferers, examined medical data and filed public data requests to scrutinize drug testing and reporting practices. Her findings revealed that federal authorities have lengthy been conscious of the unreliability of urine screens, but no state has applied safeguards to guard birthing sufferers’ rights. This lack of oversight has led to traumatizing experiences for a lot of households who had been wrongfully accused and separated.
“We’re so pleased with Shoshana’s reporting and the impression this work has had, and we’re grateful to the moms who got here ahead to inform their tales,” stated Appearing Editor-in-Chief Geraldine Sealey. “Accountability journalism that makes a distinction in folks’s lives is extra vital than ever.”
Due to this investigation many affected girls have come ahead, and advocacy teams have mobilized for change. The tales have gained legislative consideration, prompting U.S. lawmakers to sentence the apply and search options. Advocacy teams are leveraging the investigation to instigate authorized and coverage reforms throughout a number of states. Inside the medical and baby welfare communities, the collection has sparked discussions and initiated efforts to revise current procedures, demonstrating the potential for systemic change prompted by rigorous investigative journalism.
Different Marshall Challenge reporters who contributed to this challenge had been Weihua Li, Andrew Rodriguez Calderón, Nakylah Carter and Catherine Odom.
The Goldsmith Prize, administered by the Shorenstein Middle on Media, Politics and Public Coverage at Harvard Kennedy College, “honors investigative reporting that finest promotes more practical and moral conduct of presidency, the making of public coverage, or the apply of politics.” Finalists obtain $10,000, and the winner receives $25,000. This yr’s winners had been Katey Rusch and Casey Smith for a collaboration of The San Francisco Chronicle and the College of California Berkeley Investigative Reporting Program that uncovered how California police companies used secret authorized settlements to masks officers’ misconduct. For extra details about the award and to view the total listing of finalists, go to GoldsmithAwards.org.
