[size=4]Docs Favor Drug/Alcohol Testing During Pregnancy[/size=4]

Fri May 17, 5:40 PM ET
By Alan Mozes

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A poll of Michigan doctors suggests nearly all US doctors believe pregnant women have a moral responsibility to ensure that their baby will be born healthy, and that most support mandatory alcohol screening for pregnant women.

 
A smaller percentage of the doctors surveyed said pregnant women should also be screened for illicit drug use.

"Doctors are not opposed to viewing alcohol or drug abuse as a form of child abuse for the purposes for removing a child from custody at birth," said study co-author Dr. Ernest L. Abel, of Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.

Abel and his colleague Michael Kruger reviewed questionnaires completed in 1998 by more than 800 Michigan-based pediatricians, family practice doctors and obstetricians, three-quarters of whom were male. Physicians were asked what they thought about the criminal justice system getting involved in preventing pregnant women from using drugs and alcohol.

Current estimates suggest more than 5% of pregnant US women use illicit drugs and almost 20% drink during their pregnancy. The US Surgeon General has warned that drug and alcohol use during pregnancy puts a fetus at risk of a wide range of medical problems, including premature birth, mental and physical retardation, and even death.

In the April 2002 issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (news - web sites), the authors found substantial physician support for mandatory alcohol screening of pregnant women--75% among family doctors, 68% among obstetricians, and 61% among pediatricians. Support for illicit drug screening was slightly lower, with 55% of pediatricians, 49% of family doctors and 43% of obstetricians in favor of such screening.

more...
[url]story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20020517/hl_nm/alcohol_women_1[/url]

I'm all for doing whatever it takes to keep the baby healthly during pregnancy, but this is taking it a little too far! Talk about an invasion of privacy. What next?

Note to pregnant bartender...
Make it a Scotch but hold the water...please....

Its interesting how M.D.'s (some) advoacate or have no problem when they kill babies for profit...but amateurs will be prosectued...it pays to go pro I guess..

So do European countries have problems with pregnant women drinking? In most EU countries you have a drink with every meal, for digestive pourposes, also milk in many european countries is fairly expensive so wine seems to be the alternative. I guess if we never had a prohibition period here it would be socially acceptable to drink a glass of wine with a meal here.

[beer]

[b]But... but... but... it's HER body!!![/b]



If she drinks every day in the first trimester and then delivers a fetal alcohol baby - she's guilty of child abuse.

If she drinks every day in the first trimester and then orders a doctor to kill the baby - she walks away scott-free.



Come on liberals, make up your mind! Either it's HER body and she can do anything she wants to it or it's not!