The Evils of Prenatal Drug Use

I think that people should be able to do whatever they want, as long as it doesn’t negatively affect others. If you want to drink, fine. If you want to drink and then drive your car and potentially kill someone else, then I am against it. If you want to smoke weed, fine. If you want to smoke weed and watch a bunch of Carrot Top movies, then I am against it. If you want to do crack, fine. If you want to do crack and then go rob a store, then I am against it.

We now know that many substances can damage your body and mind. I’m fine with people doing that to themselves. I am completely against them forcing those negative traits onto others, especially children. There is no excuse to do drugs or drink while pregnant. NONE. Well, one. If you know that you are going to have an abortion, then by all means, go for it. But if you are going to carry to term, there is no excuse.

Sure there are physical side effects, but the more important problem is the mental developmental defects. Fetal Alcohol Effects affects the core center of the brain that is responsible for processing information. Think about it as the higher functioning brain. When you drive, you are using your higher brain function. This part of the fetus’ brain doesn’t develop normally when you drink while pregnant. All that’s left is the lower brain functioning; emotion. So FAE patients often resort to emotional reactions like confusion, anger, and frustration.

Sadly, once someone has an underdeveloped brain, they can never magically regrow it. It’s a life long disability. Those drinks you had because you didn’t care that you were pregnant? They ruined your child’s life. Sure they can learn some tricks to enable them to live their life, but they will never be able to do anything that requires higher brain function.

To be fair, the latest studies show that FAE comes in a spectrum of levels. Some people will have few symptoms. Others will have many symptoms. FAE has also been shown to increase chances for mental illness (90% of people with FAE have a mental illness later in life) and addiction (someone who drinks while pregnant is most likely an addict and that gene is probably passed on). One thing that has always fascinated me about FAE is the lack of cause/effect reasoning. For instance, they might burn their hand, not realize that the sensation of heat was related to the sensation of pain, and then do it again. The primary damage of fetal alcohol exposure is to the CNS (Central Nervous System) that can cause seizure disorders and decreased motor function. Other issues that can come from drinking during pregnancy include impulse control, social perception, communication, abstraction, math skills, memory, attention, and judgment. It’s estimated that the cost of medical or social treatments can be almost 1 million dollars per child.

Just because the mother wanted to drink.

The point is that if you want to have fun and do whatever you want with your life, that’s fine. But once you are a parent, you no longer get to think about yourself first. You’re a parent. You have to focus on what’s best for your child. If you think about yourself before your child, you have no right to have children. It would be immoral to have children. I love when these parents say “I’m a good parent”. Meanwhile daddy is in jail, mommy is smoking two packs a day, and their trailer is full of other fucked up and unloved children. Just because you tell yourself that you are a good parent, doesn’t make it true. The reality is that children need more than love. They need parents who are actively trying to make the child’s life better, not worse.

All of this is just from alcohol, though similar findings occur from prenatal drug use. Get clean before you have children. If you can’t get clean, you can’t be a parent. It’s as simple as that. Why are we as a society not doing more to stop this? We justify it as “well it’s their life”. Fuck that. The children have no say in the matter, but have to deal with all of the cost. I say we drag these women out into the streets and return to public humiliation. Let’s tar and feather these bitches. A few months ago there were a bunch of gay people who killed themselves because they couldn’t stand being mocked by their peers. They did nothing wrong. Let’s take these women who are guilty of ruining their children’s lives and be as cruel to them as they are to their unborn children. Let’s mock them so often that they all kill themselves. Maybe then we as a society can progress.