Pregnancy is a life changing event for women. In fact, it is a selfless act. Almost all women change their lifestyle while being pregnant. For example, they change or control their diet and restrict certain activities. However, some women who are pregnant may still drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes. The risk that an expecting mother takes while drinking or smoking is a higher probability that this behavior may cause harm to the unborn baby inside her womb. Doctors recommend that all pregnant women should refrain from cigarettes or alcohol when they are pregnant. Women should not drink because it is medically proven that the outcome will be a baby born prematurely, or with a low birth weight. There may also be respiratory problems and the baby may have fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). The mother may even have a miscarriage. It is because of this plethora of problems associated with smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol while a woman is pregnant that doctors recommend against it. So, if a woman drinks alcohol or smokes while knowing she is pregnant, should she be charged with the crime of harming or assaulting the helpless human inside her? I believe she should be charged since the helpless unborn child existing within her is defenseless.
There is a case where the unborn child is counted as a living human being and another proving that the fetus in the womb is purely nonexistent human. A 38 year-old man from El Paso, Texas was charged with two counts of murder after killing a pregnant woman and her unborn child (Evia). But in the state of Texas, abortion is legal, so how can this case be a double homicide whereas entering an abortion clinic to eliminate the life of an unborn is legal? In both of these examples you equa...
... middle of paper ...
...009. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. .
Man charged with murder in deaths of pregnant woman, unborn baby. N.p., 24 Dec. 20013. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. .
Mokate, Tefo. Is it safe to drink alcohol during pregnancy?. BabyCenter, July 2013. Web. 21 May 2014. .
Prosecuting “Bad” Mothers. N.p., 25 Apr. 2012. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. .
Schwarz, Richard H. Drinking, Smoking, and Your Pregnancy. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. .
who used cigarettes and alcohol while pregnant and kids who are exposed to high levels of
Tobacco use during pregnancy is another environmental influence. The nicotine, carbon monoxide, and many other harmful chemicals mixed together in cigarettes are very harmful to the mother and especially the unborn child. This can cut off the baby’s oxygen supply, increase the risk of
Drug and alcohol use in pregnancy poses a threat to the neonate’s development and the obstetric provider has an obligation to screen for substance use. Substance use in pregnancy can place the developing fetus at risk for in-utero opioid dependence, fetal-alcohol syndrome, preterm labor, and other consequences of maternal alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use.(6) Within the past three years La Crosse County has seen a marked increase in the amount of heroin use.(7)
... excluded potential risk factors for preterm birth including previous pregnancies and multiple births. Thus, these results should only be applied to the risk of alcohol consumption for primiparous mothers with singleton pregnancies. However, despite the lack of risks identified in this study, alcohol use during pregnancy has been linked to disabilities. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP, 2011), its adverse effects include fetal alcohol syndrome, learning disabilities, social ineptness, depression, and anxiety. The AACAP strongly recommends against pregnant women consuming any form of alcohol at any level. Despite the data presented by Dale et al. (2016), the question of the other risks of alcohol consumption on the fetus was not explored and thus alcohol use during pregnancy should not be condoned solely based on this study.
“Can I consume even a miniscule amount of alcohol?” a common, yet preposterous question asked by numerous pregnant women. The common answer given by doctors is yes, you may. Many women don’t know, but according to nofas.org, women who drink as little as two glasses of wine per day can adversely affect their offspring’s effectiveness at school. According to the Institute of Medicine 1996, “Of all the substances of abuse (including heroin, cocaine,and marijuana), alcohol by far produces the most neurobehavioral effects in the fetus”. Fetal alcohol syndrome is a possible outcome of drinking while pregnant. This horrid disease can cause aberrant facial characteristics, growth deficits, brain damage that results in mental retardation, hyperactivity,
Many women feel guilty for consuming alcohol before they knew they are pregnant, and when the pregnancy test is positive, they are afraid they may already hurt the baby since it is known that alcohol passes the placenta. Toxins from the alcohol can disturb the cell division, placement and development of the newborns organs. When cells are damaged by nicotine, drugs, or alcohol, they will stop dividing. This will produce early miscarriage which woman will experience as a late period. If fetus survives, it was probably not affected.
When fetal death occur after 20 weeks its called stillbirth. Unfortunately, in just under a third of cases doctors cannot tell them why their baby died. If doctors aren’t sure what caused a baby’s death it can be discovered by investigation. Not all women agree to the test from the guilt of drinking alcohol during their pregnancy. Certain factors do increase your risk of having stillborn baby alcohol consumption is a main factor. A mother who consumed alcohol during pregnancy is 40% more likely to experience a 70 % elevated risk of stillbirth compared with
The number of women who have taken up smoking during pregnancy has significantly increased and is continuing to rise, despite the government targets for reducing it (BBC Health). Statistics reveal that one in three pregnant women are continuing to smoke, in spite of the current social policies and campaigns that are in force to help them quit. Campaigns including NHS smoke free, NHS stop smoking services and local stop smoking clinics drop in where women can...
When it comes to pregnancy, expectant mothers usually have a lot of questions and concerns. One such concern is alcohol consumption. Some people feel that it is okay while others are against the consumption. However those who drink take a huge risk that can result in what is referred to as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). This umbrella term is used to describe the range of damage from alcohol exposure to a fetus. The characteristics, diagnosis, and the mother are all important factors to look at when trying to understand these birth defects.
As you can see, drug and alcohol use during pregnancy can be very dangerous. It can affect the baby size, different parts of the body, and also causes learning, emotional and physical problem that may last a lifetime. Lingen (2012) reported that pregnancy can alter how the body deals with drugs, making some drugs even more dangerous to both the mother and the baby. Prevention for alcohol abuse must start in school educational programs, they must be created to primarily address toward high risk individuals and groups. Later, a motivational intervention to decrease the danger of an alcohol-exposed pregnancy in women (Ornoy & Ergaz, 2010).
In the article, “Effects of moderate drinking during pregnancy on placental gene expression”, they conducted an experiment to determine if gene expression ...
“Alcohol use during pregnancy can cause fetal alcohol syndrome, fetal death, spontaneous abortion, and stillbirth,” says Deborah A. Appello, MS. Drinking alcohol while a woman is pregnant can be really harmful to the baby. The amount of alcohol that is in a woman’s blood is also in the baby 's blood. Alcohol can hurt the baby 's development. That 's why alcohol is much more harmful to the baby than to women during the pregnancy. Alcohol can lead the baby to have serious health conditions, called fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). The most serious of these is fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Fetal alcohol syndrome can seriously harm your baby 's development, both mentally and physically. Alcohol can cause these defects in the baby such as having birth defects, vision and hearing problems, intellectual disabilities, learning and behavior problems. Alcohol can affect women’s reproductive systems, and damage fertility. Even small amounts can affect a woman’s menstrual cycle and reduce the chance of conceiving. Alcohol can reduce a man’s testosterone levels, leading to loss of libido. It can also damage the quality, structure and movement of sperm by stopping the liver from properly metabolizing vitamin A, which is needed for sperm development “(Alcohol and Reproduction).”Consuming alcohol prior to driving greatly increases the risk of car accidents, highway injuries, and deaths. The greater
“I brought you into this world, and I can take you out!” A child has most likely heard that phrase at some point in their life. Although, it is not ethical or legal for a mother to “take her kid out of this world”, it does bring up a good point that it was through her body, that the child was born. One of the most important responsibilities in this world is a mother carrying a child in the womb. There are many divine processes that take place during gestation, but there are also many contributing factors from the mother that can affect the developing human. These factors may include what a woman ingests and exposes her embryo or fetus to. Sadly, alcohol use during pregnancy is an ongoing problem that can have detrimental affects on the fetus, including Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). Choosing to drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy is a choice, a risky choice. Unfortunately some women don’t even know they are making a risky choice by consuming alcohol because it is in the early stages of pregnancy. It is common for a female to not find out they are pregnant until at least the fifth or sixth week after fertilization. In 2006, 49% of all pregnancies in the United States were reported unintended on a national survey.1 The highest rate of preventable birth defects and mental retardation is due to alcohol use.2 In this paper, I will further discuss FAS, the potential effects of binge drinking during the embryonic stage of gestation, and what actions need to be taken in order to reduce the incidences of alcohol related birth defects.
Not only can smoking cause considerable damage to the unborn baby, but it could affect the baby later in life. Smoking increases the chances of the baby having birth defects. For example, the child might develop severe brain damage. The baby also might be considerably light in weight. All these outcomes are extremely negative and can cause guilt.
...just being around a person that does can cause harm to a mother’s fetus. Women need to know that smoking can cause miscarriages, premature birth, and other damage to a baby. Before women that smoke decide to make the decision of getting pregnant, they should research all the harmful effects that smoking has on a fetus. If pregnant smokers were to halt tobacco use a total of 986 infant deaths would be averted annually. This validates the need for infusion of more resources into existing smoking cessation campaigns in order to achieve higher quit rates, and substantially diminish current levels of smoking-associated infant deaths (Salihu, Aliyu, Pierre-Louis, & Alexander, 2003). The only way a woman can avoid pregnancy complications associated with smoking is to quit and she should also avoid others who smoke in order to avoid the dangers of second hand smoke.