Alcohol Consumption: UK Pregnant Women To Be Banned From Drinking

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A picture of a pregnant woman drinking alcohol
Drinking while pregnant
Very soon pregnant women in Britain will be banned from consuming alcohol by law until the baby is born. Any pregnant woman who violates the law can be prosecuted for drinking while pregnant just in the same way that people are prosecuted for drunk driving. The justification for this proposed law is based on the findings that unborn babies can be harmed very seriously by alcohol consumed by their mothers.

This proposed ban on alcohol consumption by pregnant women comes few weeks after another controversial law that will ban people from smoking inside a car with a child. It is difficult to establish the next group of people to be targeted by the government. Could it be the overweight and obese people? Should the government ban this group from eating fast foods?

Having a blanket ban on alcohol consumption by all pregnant women will depict them as idiots who cannot make informed decisions about the health of their unborn baby. This will put all pregnant women in the same category as drug addicts, alcohol addicts, and prisoners. The state tends to make decisions for these people on the assumption that they are not capable of making decisions for themselves

While there may be fewer criticisms of the state for making decisions for drug addicts, alcohol addicts, and prisoners because the state supports these people, the same cannot be said of pregnant women. The vast majority of pregnant women who will be affected by the drinking ban will not be depending on the state. They will be either responsible working class women or housewives who are depending on their husbands for their financial needs. Prohibiting these people from enjoying alcohol with their own resources cannot be justified in any way.

Instead of making a blanket ban on alcohol consumption by all pregnant women, the government should ban only pregnant women who are deemed to be in the high risk group from drinking alcohol. The term high risk group refers to pregnant women who have a history of alcohol or drug abuse or pregnant women who have health conditions such as overweight or obese.

Even though it is selective and applies only to pregnant women in the high risk group, enforcing the ban on alcohol consumption by pregnant women will pose challenges to the government. How regular can the test for alcohol consumption be conducted? Is it every time the pregnant woman visits the health centre? It is difficult to imagine how a pregnant woman will react if she is subjected to alcohol test every time she visits the clinic.

Definitely there are other ways of reducing the potential harm to an unborn baby by alcohol consumption which does not involve prohibiting the mother-to-be from consuming alcohol. This can involve enlightening pregnant women more on the dangers of alcohol consumption to an unborn baby.  Come on Britain!  Let us not live in a nanny state.

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