Innovative and Holistic Programs that Offer Medications for Opioid Use Disorder to Pregnant and Parenting Women Issue Brief

Opioid use during pregnancy can impact pregnant individuals and their babies. Pregnant and parenting women (PPW), like many other populations, have been negatively affected by the opioid crisis. Drug overdose mortality for pregnant individuals increased approximately 81 percent from 2017 to 2020, particularly related to synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.1 Additionally, the number of babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), the physiologic and neurobehavioral signs of withdrawal that may occur in a newborn exposed to substances (e.g., opioids) in utero, continues to be a significant public health problem with prenatal substance use exposure continuing to increase.2 Opioid use during pregnancy is also associated with increased likelihood of preterm labor and poor fetal growth, and women who use opioids during pregnancy are 4 times more likely to have a prolonged hospital stay or die before they are discharged.

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