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Pregnancy & Drugs

Jase

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Oct 21, 1999
Messages
2,117
[edit - links checked - Simon]

Short Version:
If you’re a woman of childbearing years, as a general rule if you drink or use drugs you should also use birth control.

If you are, or could become, pregnant you shouldn’t drink or use. If you’re going to have a baby, do all you can to make sure it’s a healthy one.

Long Version:
While a lot of what’s put out there about drugs may be more propaganda than information, the fact also remains that the completely safe drug probably remains to be invented. This has nothing to do with whether a drug is legal or illegal. Even aspirin has hazards. Folks take aspirin when the benefits (pain relief) outweigh the risks (diminished blood clotting).

Folks should drink or use only when the benefits outweigh the risks. But when it comes to pregnancy, some risks just aren’t worth taking.

A drug that may be quite safe for you can be very dangerous to a fetus, and a lot of drugs do their worst damage during the first stages of pregnancy when the woman may not even know that she’s pregnant.

This is especially the case with alcohol. Nobody knows if any amount of alcohol is safae for an unborn baby, and heavy drinking during the early stages of pregnancy can result in Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). A baby with FAS is very small, has facial deformities, and has central nervous system damage – often mentally retarded.

When we’re talking about the possibility of permanently disfiguring and disabling a child, the way the question of drug safety is framed becomes reversed. The question is not the usual one of, “What’s the evidence that it’s dangerous?” The question becomes, “What’s the evidence that it’s safe?”

Preliminary research published in The Lancet in October, 1999, found that “…the drug may be associated with increased risk of congenital defects.” The article itself can be found at http://www.maps.org/research/mdma/pregnancy.html#lancet.

The response that this article has had is somewhat indicative how drug information becomes politicized and polarized. Drug warriors then said that Ecstasy causes birth defects. Others then discounted the risks, saying that it was all anti-drug propaganda. As folks choose up sides in the War on Drugs the truth hardly seems to have a chance.

In the meantime, if you’re a woman of childbearing age, remember that the real question here is, “What’s the evidence that it’s safe.” In that context, the statement that Ecstasy “may be associated with increased risk of congenital defects.” is hardly a rousing testimonial to its safety during pregnancy.

I haven’t given the usual list of different drugs and their hazards in pregnancy both because I want to keep this relatively short and because “What’s the evidence that it’s dangerous?” is the wrong question. But one of the best ones I’ve found is “Drugs & Pregnancy”, which you can locate at www.drughelp.org after clicking on the “research section”.

One list that does answer the question of, “What’s the evidence that it’s safe?” can be found at http://www.perinatology.com/exposures/druglist.htm. [edit - this link is dead - Simon]

This site is designed for physicians, so nearly all the drugs are pharmaceuticals. Each drug is classified according a scheme of A, B, C, D, and X. “A” drugs are generally safe for an unborn baby. With “B” through “X” drugs there is increasing evidence of risk to the fetus. There are very few “A” drugs.

The more common recreational drugs that are definitely harmful to an unborn baby are alcohol, nicotine, amphetamines, heroin, and cocaine. While cocaine hasn’t been found to be nearly as harmful as the “Crack Baby” hysteria of a few years ago would have it, certainly one shouldn’t harm a baby-to-be at all.

If you’re going to have a baby, do everything you can to make it a healthy one.

If you’re going to drink and use, make sure you aren’t and can’t get pregnant. And if you have been drinking or using and find that you’re pregnant, don’t panic. While there may be a chance that your baby-to-be has been harmed, there is a much greater chance that your baby will be just fine if you quit drinking and using and get prenatal care.

Legal Issues
There have been some efforts in the U.S. to criminalize substance use during pregnancy by defining it as child abuse. These efforts have been opposed on the grounds on the grounds that the effect would be that pregnant women who drink or use won’t seek prenatal care or won’t level with their healthcare provider, and that if they’re addicted they won’t seek treatment.

In most instances these efforts to define substance use during pregnancy as child abuse have been unsuccessful and you can freely speak with your healthcare provider, or obtain addiction treatment if you need it, without having to worry about the authorities being drug into it. But it would be a very good idea to first find out just what the law is in your area.

[ 11 February 2003: Message edited by: Simon ]
 
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