Should it be okay for women to smoke while pregnant?

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I'm a smoker and a drinker. If I got pregnant and intended to carry the baby to term, I would do my best to stop both these things. But, you can't enforce this. It's up to the Mom.
I'm getting a scary picture of pregnant women being sequestered for nine months in a germ free bubble room.

One of the most disgusting things I ever saw was a VERY pregnant lady swilling beer and smoking.
I think it's child endangerment ,but other than educating women on the dangers of smoking and drinking during pregnancy there's not much else you could do to stop it.Any teenager will tell you if they want ciggs and booze they can always sneak around and do it.
I'm a smoker but I quit during both pregnancies,no booze,coffee,not even an aspirin.If I could do it,anyone could.We never allowed smoking in the house after we had the kids,we went on the porch.

No but it's impractical to stop a mother who does. Not to undersell the dangers of smoking during pregnancy but I'd alcohol and drugs are much more harmful to the mother and the child.

Actually, we CAN enforce it: Most pregnant women visit doctors for prenatal care. Obstetricians need to be on the look out for lany signs of alcohol consumption and if they suspect it they should be able to get a blood sample from the woman. If there is a positive test for consumption of ANY kind of drug(nicotine, alcohol, etc) then she should be arrested and given 2 choices: An abortion or being confined to a facility in a hospital or clinic until she gives birth.

We cannot allow certain selfish, stupid, irresponsible women to sabotage their children's lives in the womb like this.

What about false positives though? Can't you test positive for things like that by breathing in second hand smoke or by taking a cold medicine or accidentally swallowing some mouthwash? What if the woman doesn't receive any prenatal care? If they are a serious smoker or drinker and won't quit and know that they would get caught they just wouldn't go to the doctor then.

Look out for signs of alcohol consumption? Wouldn't there not be any signs unless they are a serious alcoholic?

This cannot occur under American law is it is currently constituted. A fetus has no status as a person under our laws. And then there is the matter of false positives.

This is a non starter in the U.S.

ruveyn

Law, even in the US, is not immutable. The fact that the fetus is not a person.....YET....is actually irrelevant. Drug consumption is not a right; even when it comes to legal drugs like tobacco and alcohol. There are restrictions on possession and usage based on age and circumstances. If libetardians advocated decriminalizing drinking and driving they'd be committing political suicide. In WA it is against the law to smoke indoors except in a private residence(yeah, EVEN a privately owned establishment open to the public). Since it is not your right to drink and drive, WTF makes you think that women have any kind of entitlement to consume alcohol when they are pregnant? In short: They don't. And in the case of boozing while pregnant and keeping the unborn fetus and letting it mature into an actual baby, well, the fetus will gain person status and will be damaged for life.

I'm sorry, but even in the Land of the free you don't get to do whatever your want whenever you want it. Get used to it.

I can get used to anything the makes sense under the law. Indoor smoking can be regulated because when A smokes indoors it dirties the air that B breathes in the same enclosed space. The underlying legal premise is that reckless endangerment is a no no. But reckless endangerment can be imposed by one person's action upon another person. A fetus, in U.S. law is not a person.

However, you are correct about law not being immutable. It is very possible that Christian ret*ds may get a law passed in some States the gives fetuses personhood status. In those states, women will then become no more than brood mares.

ruveyn

Really? You'd rather see the fetus dead. Seems a bit like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

The second one would cost a lot of money. Also, what if she didn't know she was pregnant until a couple of months in? It happens. I even know someone who was four months in when she found out. You might as well ban all women of reproductive age from taking drugs. Damn, if you did that, I would have sex reassignment surgery for sure.

Seriously, though, my mother smoked when she was carrying me, so that should be sufficient reason for why smoking during pregnancy is not okay.

That one topic made me think though. That fetus, although not a person, could be one in the future. Usually that means nothing, but if it is carried to term and actually grows up to be one, and has health issues derived from his mother's smoking habit, then she was effectively the one to cause them. Passing laws against it can be abused though, and as puddingmouse said, some people don't know they are pregnant until a couple of months in. (how so? I'm not well versed in the matter, but I'd assume that if a woman is late, she'd look for possible reasons, one of them being pregnancy.)

^ Some women are always late, also if you're just past puberty or heading towards the menopause, you're not regular, either. I once went two months without a period during my final year at uni and I thought I was pregnant. It was just stress, though. Then there's PCOS. I know women who are not menopausal who only have about 6 periods a year.

Also, a woman can be on the pill and run packs together so as to not have a period. If you have a stomach upset that can throw off the effectiveness of the pill. The woman who found out four months in found out this way.

Actually, it's not "any amount" of alcohol that causes the problems. It's safe to have a glass or two of wine or beer in the third trimester, and is even used by some midwives to stop premature labor. It's alcohol in the first trimester and early second trimester that causes the problems.

As for smoking, it can cause premature labor and low birth weight. It was also not discouraged for pregnant women until the 70's, because smoking "kept pregnant women from gaining too much weight" which at the time was thought to cause preeclampsia, rather than just be a symptom of it.

Every time I've been pregnant, the smell of alcohol or cigarettes would make me sick to my stomach. It's just natures way of making sure you don't want to do whats harmful. I think it should be up to the woman as to whether she smokes or not, although I do think she should be completely informed of the problems that it can cause. I've known nurses and one doctor who smoked while pregnant, but they did cut down the amount very much. This was also in the early 80s when it was still seen in some circles as "going overboard" to quit completely.

Sure! Let them smoke while they're pregnant!

Just inform them that if their child has a low birth weight or a birth defect, they shouldn't expect a judge or jury to side with them in a medical malpractice suit.

Not only can it cause deformaties and harm to the baby it can also cause a miscarriage or the baby could be born with a craving to smoke Marlboros![youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4c_wI6kQyE[/youtube]

1. No, it's not morally "okay" to smoke while knowingly pregnant.

2. No, it should not be illegal.

My rights > fetus rights.