Smoking while Pregnant

My teen cousin kinda inspired me to make this thread because she smoked though her entire pregnancy and I was not at all pleased, but it was her choice just the same.

We all know that smoking while pregnant increased the risk of health problems with the baby, and everytime I see a pregnant woman smoking, the little voice in my head says 'she should not be doing that'

Would you consider smoking while pregnant child abuse? Do you think it should be outlawed if the woman is carrying the child to term?

I often wonder why pregnant women who say "I want this baby and going to carry it to term" smoke and put their child's health a risk if they 'want' the baby so much.

What do you all think about this?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Why just smoking?

Why not outlaw everything that risks the health of a woman's baby? Caffiene, alcohol, aspirin, fast food, too much exercise, driving on a congested highway.

Also, what are you going to do with the lawbreaker, put her in jail? The added stress on the mother has got to be more harmful to the child than the smoking would be.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

You know what? My mother smoked while she was pregnant with me because she was afraid of me being a big baby. I have no health problems to date. It's a chance that the mother can take, I wouldn't recommend it myself though.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Enforcing stuff like this is a tough area. People generally know what they are doing, if anything, preventive education may be needed, especially for teen pregnancies, but I think it's general knowledge anyway.

I infact met a girl in the city the other night and she said she was 6 months pregnant, then also mentioned she wanted a cigarette among complaining about the 13 degree weather while waiting for our bus. I forgot to question her smoking, but it somewhat alarmed me.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I questioned my cousin while she was having a smoke on her 7th month, and she told me that the doctor told her is it bad to stop smoking cold turkey and could harm her baby... is this true?

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Secret Squirrel

Why just smoking?

Why not outlaw everything that risks the health of a woman's baby? Caffiene, alcohol, aspirin, fast food, too much exercise, driving on a congested highway.

At the same time, the risks are much higher for things like alcohol (I'm not sure about cigarettes, but I can't imagine they're very good).

Really alcohol is one of those things that, if taken with any degree of regularity, will cause deformities and anomalies.

Punishment can be fines or even being charged with lesser crimes like willful endangerment, and doesn't have to mean jail time (at least until the baby is born).

How ya doing, buddy?

My mother smoked while pregnant with me... It feels wrong to place any blame on her for any of my problems, but a lot of people who knew my mother before she had me try to...

One of my old girlfriends smoked when she thought she was pregnant... Sadly, she lost it... She wouldn't give me the details of the unborn child's demise, and I know there are a lot of factors that could lead to that.

It's a personal choice that I've discouraged amoung many of my friends. I think that's really all we can do. Personally, I think that something should be done if a woman wants a child as bad as she says she does, but how would one go about enforcing a law? What kind of penalties could be placed on a choice like that?

FELIPE NO

I thought there were repercussions for drinking/smoking/drug abuse while you're pregnant? Or is that for certain states? It's one thing to not know your pregnant and you're like oops, shouldn't have snorted that, but I thought that if you knew you were pregnant and continued to do drugs or abuse your body in any way, you get your baby taken away and you are charged.

As long as the mother is going to carry the baby to term, it makes no sense to me why they'd WANT to risk having a kid with problems. If they have an addiction, that's what those self-help groups are for

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Devoxycontin

As much as I think a mother is an idiot for doing such things, I don't really want laws to exist that do not allow the rights to do with her body what she pleases. While smoking does endanger the baby, I worry about the precedent such a law would set.

The precendence to not allow people to put anything they want in their body was set a long time ago.

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Originally Posted by Chibi Neko

Would you consider smoking while pregnant child abuse? Do you think it should be outlawed if the woman is carrying the child to term?

What do you all think about this?

I would definitely consider it child abuse. Smoking while pregnant can cause problems that can have a lasting effect on the child. As exaggerated as this might seem to some of you, it honestly seems as bad to me as forcing an infant to inhale smoke straight out of a cigarette. The thing is, though, that my definition of "child" is different from other people's. The unborn baby that I consider a child with rights might not be thought of as having rights until birth by other people and could be considered property of the mother who can do with it what she wants. The definition of "child" would be a huge hurdle to jump over to even begin to think about enforcing some sort of law prohibiting consumption of harmful substances while pregnant because it is child abuse. Does anyone know if it actually is illegal to consume things like drugs and alcohol while pregnant in some states or countries?

Passing a law sounds like a good idea, but I'm afraid of where it could go. For example, how would it be enforced? Would the mom have regular mouth swabs (or whatever it is they do) to make sure she isn't smoking? What would the punishment be for breaking the law? Would she be fined? Or put in an institution-like setting and monitored until she gives birth? And think about how far this could be taken. Poor nutrition can be highly detrimental to an unborn child's health (more than smoking in many ways from what I understand), so do we start locking up mothers who don't eat properly and force-feed them nutritious foods?

In a perfect world a law preventing pregnant women from smoking would work out great, but if this were a perfect world we wouldn't have women smoking while pregnant to begin with. The possibility of abuse of a law like this is too great for me to agree to it being passed. Lately, though, I've been hearing about parents being fined for smoking in cars with their children (or something along those lines), so maybe a law like the one we're discussing isn't too far off.

Originally Posted by Chibi Neko

I questioned my cousin while she was having a smoke on her 7th month, and she told me that the doctor told her is it bad to stop smoking cold turkey and could harm her baby... is this true?

We discussed this in Nutrition a few weeks back and what it came down to is that the benefits of quitting for both the mother and baby outweigh the problems that might be experienced with withdrawal. Maybe the doctor is a little behind the times?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

First of all, let me just say I'm a smoker. I've been a smoker for 8 years, and I started for retarded reasons. My opinions my be biased. It's a very hard habit to break, and I can sympathize with that difficulty. HOWEVER.

I always said that the latest point in life that I would absolutely, undoubtedly and unquestionably QUIT was when I got pregnant (if ever). I would never ever want to even run the risk of harming my parasitic fetus in such a way that could affect it's life outside of my womb and into the future. My PERSONAL decision would be to stop at any cost because it's not worth the risk. (And yea, it's only a RISK. There's not a 100% chance that your kid will be fucked if you smoke/drink whatever during pregnancy).

Now. That said.

NO ONE has the right to tell a person what they can and can not do with their own bodies. Yea, it sucks. Yea, it could be child abuse. But while the mother is carrying that baby, both life forms are compacted into ONE body who makes all the decisions.

You could not and SHOULD NOT outlaw a mother's right to smoke while she's carrying child. It's an out-right violation of personal freedom if you ask me. If a mother wants to smoke while she's with child, it's her loss - not mine. (Except for the small portion of my income that will take care of her kid's ailments, the stupid ass).

Like SS said - you can't outlaw these things. It's stupid. A person's right to chose is a person's right to chose - no matter HOW FUCKING RETARDED the choice may be.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Never understood why women would have a baby if they're not hellbent on taking care of it properly.

This girl I knew found out she was pregnant and cried her ass off and said she would drink herself to death just to get rid of the baby. While I don't support it, and told her how fucking stupid she was, I'm not going to prevent her from doing whatever she wants.

If women are old enough to get pregnant, then they're old enough to deal with the consequences of their decisions.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Kazyl

Never understood why women would have a baby if they're not hellbent on taking care of it properly.

This girl I knew found out she was pregnant and cried her ass off and said she would drink herself to death just to get rid of the baby. While I don't support it, and told her how fucking stupid she was, I'm not going to prevent her from doing whatever she wants.

If women are old enough to get pregnant, then they're old enough to deal with the consequences of their decisions.

So if a 13 year old gets raped and becomes pregnant, that's her fault?

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Chibi Neko

Would you consider smoking while pregnant child abuse? Do you think it should be outlawed if the woman is carrying the child to term?

It's not illegal to smoke around a minor, either. I highly doubt you'd even be able to get a law like that passed--not to mention one that would put the unborn's rights on the same level as the mother's.

Incidentally, the only time the unborn counts legally as a separate entity from the mother is if they both get murdered. Then it's a double homicide.

Originally Posted by Chibi Neko

I questioned my cousin while she was having a smoke on her 7th month, and she told me that the doctor told her is it bad to stop smoking cold turkey and could harm her baby... is this true?

No. It's called justification. She should have quit when she found she was pregnant, then the baby wouldn't have any withdrawl symptoms at all. And even withdrawl symptoms are still infinitely better than force-feeding the unborn carcinogens and nicotine. Continuing to smoke now just means she's still as selfish as she was 7 months ago.

This is what it comes down to: people are fucking selfish, and they put their personal needs over the needs of their kids. These people will do this while pregnant and will continue to do so as the kids grow up. Unless they do something blatantly abusive, nothing's going to happen. as far as government intervention is concerned. And ordinarily selfish parents are still probably better than the shit situations CPS would put the kids into anyway.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Denicalis

So if a 13 year old gets raped and becomes pregnant, that's her fault?

A 13 year old girl getting raped and becoming pregnant was not a decision made by her. It was made for her.

FELIPE NO

See, this is where we as a society should deal with shitheads without needing to get the law involved. You can't say "nigger" in front of a crowd at a comedy club without the whole country getting up your ass. Maybe we should all give women a hard time if we see them walking around pregnant and smoking.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

There are enough laws as it is. If people were made to reap the consequences for their actions (for example, if they had to pay their own medical bills for children with health problems caused by their stupidity), people would start to think twice about doing a lot of the things they do now. As it is, they know that if their child turns out to have medical problems, all they have to do is run to the cheese line and get free health care for their retarded/underdeveloped kid because "Help me, I'm so poor! I can't afford health insurance!" Funny thing, though, they have no problem funding their $65 a month cigarette habit.

Can we get a libertarian smiley, plz?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I think smoking while pregnant is a bad choice, but to impose rules on it would take forever. Hopefully one day pregnant women who smoke will realise that the actual danagers of smoking while pregnant are high and they could be responsible first hand for any problems their child could face. I don't think any mother could live with themselves if they knew they had caused harm to their child through actions, which they could have stopped.
I'm really anti-smoking though and i'm looking forward to next year when over here it's becoming illegal to smoke in public places after july 2007 i think.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I don't smoke, and I really never see myself smoking, but even with that fact I would never want to see smoking banned in public places. The government continually taking away personal rights can't end in anything good.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Sassafrass

NO ONE has the right to tell a person what they can and can not do with their own bodies. Yea, it sucks. Yea, it could be child abuse. But while the mother is carrying that baby, both life forms are compacted into ONE body who makes all the decisions.

You could not and SHOULD NOT outlaw a mother's right to smoke while she's carrying child. It's an out-right violation of personal freedom if you ask me. If a mother wants to smoke while she's with child, it's her loss - not mine. (Except for the small portion of my income that will take care of her kid's ailments, the stupid ass).

Could have not said it better myself. True smoking and drinking is harmful to the child, but it is the woman's choice. If it where outlawed, then why not outlaw abortion? Ending the pregancey would get rid of the fetus altogether, and it is the woman's choice, it has nothing to do with me.

I love my cousin and I gave her advice against it, that is all I could do. The choice was hers, but that choice told me that she cared about her habit more then the well being of her child seeing that she was planning to keep it, so yeah... I consider that selfish.

The baby was born a little light, but is growing very well, so she was lucky.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

That's great news! Now all she has to do is keep smoking around the child to ensure that it has a wide array of respiratory and developmental problems!

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This stuff reminds me of the newspaper picture a few years ago of a pregnant woman who said she was concerned about the noise that some nearby construction equipment affecting her baby.

What made this picture funny was that she was smoking lol. I think they tried to explain their actions, but I'm sure a lot of people were thinking "Why are you worried about the noise affecting your baby when you're smoking?"

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by munchkin13

I don't think any mother could live with themselves if they knew they had caused harm to their child through actions, which they could have stopped.

Where's that WRONG gif from Merv week when you need it. There's lots of evidence running around to disprove your statement, miss, you might want to rethink that.

Originally Posted by Capo

I don't smoke, and I really never see myself smoking, but even with that fact I would never want to see smoking banned in public places. The government continually taking away personal rights can't end in anything good.

Someone else's right to smoke shouldn't outweigh my right to be able to breathe. That's what they made outside for, so people can smoke. I'm all for people doing whatever they want to their own bodies, but when it starts infringing on my rights, we're not cool.

FELIPE NO

Although I don't agree with women smoking while pregnant, its not against the law to do so. I would want to have minimum risk when it comes to having a child. But, I guess I am a guy and I could never really understand what a woman has to go through.

I don't find smoking very appealing in the first place, so I would not have a wife who smokes.

I have heard of children who have developed problems due to smoking however, and probably due to a few other things as well.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Having to live your life with a socially damaging or health detrimental birth defect because your mom was "Ok" with taking a chance on her future child and puffing away is just plain fucking retarded no matter how I look at it.

As Squirrel said, theres plenty of other factors that involve child disabilities, but from the articles I've seen involving this sort of thing, smoking and alcaholism are the two most prominent, and really serve no responsible purpose. The benefits of exercising and coffee-drinking are obvious.

Jam it back in, in the dark.