Drug use during pregnancy: Drugs and Pregnancy?
Nicole Zolty started this conversation on May 6, 2008 4:36 PM (CC-BY-SA-3.0-US Licensed; read more info):
I do think a mother has an ethical obligation to avoid drug use during pregnancy. That said I should also state that I am completely pro-choice. I feel it should be a woman’s decision whether or not she plans to carry a pregnancy to term or if she plans to terminate it. However I strongly feel that if she decides to carry the pregnancy to term she DOES have a responsibility to offer that child the best start possible. Choosing to do drugs is clearly wrong in my eyes.
Punishment is a tricky question. How would that be enforced? Mandatory drug testing of all pregnant woman? I feel that the government already is a bit too much in our personal business, and that having to submit to drug testing simply because I am pregnant would be a HUGE violation of my rights. If mandatory testing were to become a reality I think we would see a rise in the numbers of woman who choose to use midwives and plan home births.
Furthermore, punishment in my opinion would make woman who were struggling with drug addiction even less likely to seek help for fear of repercussions.
I do understand how many feel that punishment would lower the amount of woman who choose to abuse drugs during their pregnancies, but honestly I don’t think the threat of punishment would stop anyone. The threat of punishment generally makes people just work harder at hiding things so they do not face the consequences.More education and support groups might help. I assume most mothers who are struggling with a drug addiction during a pregnancy feel a sense of shame, so maybe support groups that offer the woman the option to remain anonymous would be helpful.
Hope I have not offended any with my thoughts.
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