Disturbing
Jul. 18th, 2006 07:32 amhttp://www.alternet.org/story/39075/?cID=157565#c157565
This is an article about an attempt to make smoking illegal - but only if you happen to be pregnant.
My first response was that this made sense. Then I thought about a few things, like the nature of addiction, the lack of access to health care in general and addiction recovery programs in particular, and the general demonization of moms-to-be who may end up avoiding prenatal care as a result. Call me a socialist, but wouldn't they be better off making anti-addiction programs and decent prenatal care available to help women become good moms, rather than criminalizing their risky but legal behaviours?
This is an article about an attempt to make smoking illegal - but only if you happen to be pregnant.
My first response was that this made sense. Then I thought about a few things, like the nature of addiction, the lack of access to health care in general and addiction recovery programs in particular, and the general demonization of moms-to-be who may end up avoiding prenatal care as a result. Call me a socialist, but wouldn't they be better off making anti-addiction programs and decent prenatal care available to help women become good moms, rather than criminalizing their risky but legal behaviours?