LogFAQs > #955353194

I'm against it, because there are so many edge cases and unintended knock-on effects.

Yes, in a perfect world, a woman who is pregnant who willingly drinks or goes out partying with drugs probably should be punished for harming her child. But what if she didn't know she was pregnant at the time? We can say, "OK, this only applies to women who knew they were pregnant at the time," but that just incentivizes addicts to not go to doctors or do pregnancy checks if they suspect they are pregnant so that they can claim plausible deniability.

Are we comfortable acknowledging that a woman who drinks/takes drugs during her pregnancy is now incentivized to terminate the pregnancy - possibly illegally, if it happens late enough in the pregnancy, by forcing a miscarriage - to avoid potential criminal charges? Are we also comfortable acknowledging that this discourages women from admitting they have a problem if they are or recently were pregnant, thereby exposing both mother and child to further risks by isolating them from care?

The best solution here is better education and health care for expectant mothers. If addicts have the resources they need to help beat their addiction, they are less likely to drink/use while pregnant, thus avoiding the problem in the first place.

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