There are many information campaigns that are made so that women know that it is not safe to drink alcohol during pregnancy, but many end up drinking despite it. In Britain, for now, it is not prohibited, but it is only a recommendation. However, a case that is in court and has moved society could change this and make drinking pregnant alcohol is considered a crime.
The case of which I speak is that of a six year old girl with stunted growth who suffered Fetal Alcoholism Syndrome, whose mother could be found guilty, for being her case in court.
Absolute control over pregnancy
If this happens, if the mother were found guilty before the law of causing her daughter the consequences she now suffers, it could be considered crime alcohol consumption during pregnancy. The problem that this can generate is that a behavior would be criminalized on a person that does not yet exist and that would open a wide range of possibilities in which laws could be created for many other women's behaviors that could also pose a risk to the baby's health .
I think for example about food, tobacco, sedentary lifestyle, but I also think about stress, depression, taking medications, and some of these behaviors may be related to major problems, or to a superior cause. If a pregnant woman is totally stressed because she has been kicked out of work, can she be reported for stress or should she report to the company that has fired herFor causing stress in the mother that could affect the baby? And if the company has fired because it has real financial problems because of a crisis generated by banks and politicians, are they denounced?
And the baby, who was not born
This is not the first time that this issue has been dealt with in the courts of Great Britain. In January of this year, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) lost a lawsuit asking for compensation for children affected by fetal alcohol syndrome. The Superior Court said that children were born with this syndrome as a direct result of alcohol consumption by their mother, but added that as at the time of drinking alcohol the children were not yet people, the mothers could not have committed a crime.
And then who protects the children?
Well I do not know. It is a very tricky issue and consequently we will have to continue to emphasize inform women so that they know the risks of drinking alcohol during pregnancy. From there, considering it a crime seems to me, as I say, to cross a very dangerous pregnancy control barrier, because controlling pregnancy means controlling women. And if the baby does not get born later because the mother suffers a miscarriage, is she still guilty? What if the baby is born healthy? What if the woman drank alcohol not knowing that I was pregnant?
Too complicated to pretend to control it. I still think that women should have the information and that the authorities should fight to get them to have it. And if you want to give a touch of attention, you can always put a law that says "prohibited the sale of alcohol to children under 16 and pregnant women." Maybe so women wonder why.
