Alcohol And The Fetus Essay -- essays research papers

Know When to Say When   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Drinking during pregnancy is often thought of as no big deal. However, drinking during pregnancy is a very big deal. An unborn baby’s life is in the hands of the mother. If she decides to drink, she is risking the unborn’s chances of being as smart and healthy as it can be. Drinking during pregnancy opens the doors to a variety of harmful effects on the mother and her unborn baby, and until this is brought out in the open with honesty, it cannot be prevented. There are many stereotypes about the women that drink while they are pregnant. One stereotype believed by professional doctors is that women that are college-educated and wealthy are going to drink less or not at all during pregnancy, and the poorer and uneducated women are going to drink more during pregnancy. However, just as stereotypes usually turn out, the complete opposite is true. Women who receive college degrees are four times more likely to drink during pregnancy than women who only receive a high school diploma. Some statistics show that mothers who go to community and rural health centers to receive care are counseled more than mothers who go to private doctors’ offices. People should not make assumptions about something so important especially if it concerns a person’s health (Walsh 2-3).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Those assumptions may go beyond stereotyping of individuals and carry over to what is a safe level of alcohol. Some people believe that drinking a little amount of alcohol will not harm the fetus. However, in reality, â€Å"there is no known safe level of alcohol consumption for pregnant women† (Walsh 2). A woman runs the risk of having a child with defects if she drinks regularly (Orenberg 167). â€Å"Binge drinking, or heavy alcohol consumption at one sitting, is particularly hazardous to the fetus because very high levels of alcohol enter the mother’s blood stream† (â€Å"Fetal Alcohol†). High levels of alcohol consumption can leave the fetus exposed longer making birth defects more severe (â€Å"Fetal Alcohol†). The fetus is exposed longer because its organs are still developing, therefore, taking the fetus twice as long to break down the alcohol (Walsh 2). As a result of this, the fetus’ blood-alcohol level is much hi gher than the mother’s, thus meaning that at the moment the mother starts to feel the effects of the alcohol, the unborn bab... ...aired (Bunch 3:87). As for the rest of the defects that come with fetal alcohol syndrome, there is not much hope for improvement.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Despite the knowledge about potential effects on the fetus, births of babies born with fetal alcohol syndrome occur often. â€Å"In industrialized Western countries about one in every hundred babies is affected† (Bunch 3:87). In fact, â€Å"eight out of every hundred pregnant women go into labor sometime after the 15th week of pregnancy, but before the pregnancy has reached its full term roughly 40 weeks. If birth occurs before the 36th week, or 9th month, the baby might be too small to survive on its own outside the womb† (Orenberg 159). Even if there is one occurrence of a baby born with fetal alcohol syndrome that is one occurrence too many.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Drinking during pregnancy opens the doors to a variety of harmful effects on the mother and her unborn baby, and until this is brought out in the open with honesty, it cannot be prevented. It is sad to hear about women that do not quit drinking when they find out that they are pregnant. It is a moral obligation not to jeopardize the well being of the unborn child.