Pregnant Women's Temporary Satisfaction and Long Term Consequences

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A growing issue that continues to go on today is the drug and alcohol abuse by pregnant women. This has become a growing issue due to the fact that pregnancy is starting at a much younger age. Women tend to become pregnant around the age of 15 to 44 (“Birth Data”). In young women among the ages of 18 to 24, the alcohol and tobacco rates were 25.5 percent and 15.5 percent, respectively (Chen). As of 2001, about 12 percent of all pregnant women admitted to consuming alcohol during their pregnancy (Burd). Out of the 4 million or so births in the United States, 64,000 have had high levels of exposure to alcohol while pregnant (Burd). Similarly, teenagers and those in their early adulthood are getting exposed to all different types of drugs. Both of these facts are the leading causes to the increase of drug and alcohol abuse by pregnant women. Another rising issue that is still going on up to this day is whether or not abortion should be legal. Due to the fact that in some states, having an abortion is considered murder; drug and alcohol abuse during pregnancy should be dealt with in a similar way. Drug and alcohol use not only makes an impact on the life of the mother but also puts the unborn baby in risk of danger. Drug and alcohol abuse during pregnancy has many adverse long term effects on a child and should be punished as a crime.
Illicit drugs such as cocaine and tobacco for example have a negative impact on the development of a fetus. One risk a mother-to-be takes when using cocaine while pregnant is putting their baby at risk of developing cocaine metabolites, meaning cocaine has become necessary for the child’s metabolic process. A woman by the name of Cornelia Whitner, whose child was diagnosed with cocaine metabolites, was ...

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