Killing Your Baby One Day at a Time..

You would think that once a woman found out she was pregnant she would put the life of her child above her wants, but that is not always the case. While not all women decide to continue doing drugs while their pregnant, there are a handful of women who use even while they are pregnant. The statistics done in an Australian study show that 49% of women use Tobacco, 23% consume alcohol, and 9% consume cannabis.  Using these drugs while pregnant can result in children being born with FAS, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, future behavioral problems, and decreased cognitive functioning.

However, women aged in 15-45 in Australia consume alcohol at dangerous levels. So when they become pregnant the alcohol consumption statistics decrease, but it is still harmful to the babies whose mothers decide to use while they are pregnant. A hospital study that consisted of 264 pregnant women conducted a questionnaire asking about their use of drugs while pregnant, and if they quit during pregnancy or not. The study concluded that only 60 of the 264 women currently use tobacco while pregnant. 26% of the women had quit alcohol and 12% quit smoking marijuana once they found out they were pregnant. 127, almost half, of the women reported that they had no current substance abuse while pregnant. 

The level of education, the quality of their prenatal care, age, whether it was a planned pregnancy or not, and the age they started using drugs were all factors of whether the women quit once they found out they were pregnant. The results also showed that the women who were highly educated had no substance use while pregnant, oppose to the ones who only finished high school.  The limits on this study are that substance use while pregnant statistics are highly based off of women who self-report their substance uses.

ABSTRACT

Passey, M. (n.d.). Tobacco, alcohol, cannabis use during pregnancy. Drugs and Alcohol Dependency. Retrieved October 27, 2014, from http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0376871613003700/1-s2.0-S0376871613003700-main.pdf?_tid=16ddc66a-5ef0-11e4-b50e-00000aab0f02&acdnat=1414534779_a058