"Plans are already under way to make it illegal to smoke when children are in the car after MPs backed a ban raising the question if mothers who deliberately harm their unborn baby by drinking should also be prosecuted."
A few thoughts. What will follow? Sterilisation of alcoholic women? Imprisonment of pregnant boozers to stop them drinking? Prosecution if you eat unhealthily during pregnancy? Of course, not that one, as government cuts have directly led to that in many cases. The ideas may sound sensible but how to tackle the problems needs a great deal of thought. Any changes need to be workable and surely education must come first? Will middle-class women who continue to enjoy a glass or two of wine whilst pregnant also face prosecution? Again we ask what is excessive drinking? But after all that is said excessive drinking during pregnancy can lead to: "Glenn, 15, was born with FAS after his birth mother drank excessively during pregnancy. He has the mental age of a four-year-old, as well as physical disabilities which affect his movement and vision. He has to wear nappies and is fed through a tube." Sources Sky News
4 Comments
B. McPherson
2/24/2014 01:44:01 am
Alcohol is a poison and any amount can harm a fetus, especially its brain. If a society wants to raise healthier babies then let's start at the beginning, well before a woman gets pregnant. Her iron levels should be up at least -- spina bifida. Oh, and let's have a look at the prospective father's sperm. That's part of the equation. Wait a sec, the prospective parents' grandparents are part of it too -- epigenetics. It's all a thinly disguised move to control women's reproductive rights. If the gov't were serious about healthy kids, they would make sure that those born were ensured good housing, good food and support for the parents. I do rant on, but the one most important thing that has raised women in the west to near equality has been control over their reproduction. For @*&% sake if they drink too much, help them to not drink so much!
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eileen
2/24/2014 03:52:36 am
Well said. You put my rambling thoughts into words. They cannot expect to cut welfare on one hand and then preach about the well-being of a foetus on the other. Education, education education - and then support not criminal action.
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Julia
2/10/2015 11:54:44 pm
If you to a hospital such as Loma Linda University, even back in the seventies they told women not to drink liquor or coffee during pregnancy. Traditionalist Adventists have a strict diet, but those are two things that studies have shown are not the best to be drinking through pregnancies. Most doctors in the US tell women not to drink these days anyway. Coffee is kind of a gray area, but I have seen shows where a pregnant woman is shouted out for holding a cup of coffee. There is a link to drinking during pregnancy and fetal alcohol syndrome, but this is more in cases where the women drink excess amounts. I guess things are such culturally different here in America, but here we are told to abstain from many stimulants during pregnancy. Our government health pamphlets have been pushing that info for a very long time. But other cultures have healthy kids, and women drink a glass of wine at dinner during pregnancy, so there must be other ways of doing things.
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Eileen
2/11/2015 12:12:29 am
Thanks for reading and sharing your info Julia.
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