Last July a controversial Tennessee law that punished women who gave birth to drug-dependent babies was allowed to expire due to concerns it was sending drug-addicted mothers-to-be into hiding, or to abortion clinics to avoid jail time. The law was passed six years earlier, ostensibly to help combat a rising epidemic of babies born addicted to drugs, known as Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome. With this law out of the way, the state has returned to its earlier practice of eliminating punishment in favor of treatment. Ballad Health has now doubled down on that approach with a major investment in serving the specialized needs of not just pregnant women and babies who suffer from addition, but entire families.