Pregnant teen who drinks 32 units of alcohol a week

[Treblaine]

Currently an unborn fetus isn't a person, so you can't be charged with negligence. I'm not saying that's right, it's just how it works in current law. At least in the States.

There's also the fact that there's no medical consensus on how much/when during the pregnancy causes fetal alcohol syndrome. And the fact that we let women over 35 bear children even though we know it puts their children at significantly higher risk of chromosomal birth defects, including Down's Syndrome. Or that we don't force feed pregnant women folate enriched bread/vitamins because we know that not enough folate seriously increases the risk of neural tube defects like spina bifida. Ad nauseum.

"There's also the fact that there's no medical consensus on how much/when during the pregnancy causes fetal alcohol syndrome"

Yes there is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foetal_alcohol_syndrome#Cause


Just something to say about having a child when older, the problems there happen at the moment of conception and the problems are mostly with the male's shoddy DNA.

The quality of male sperm decreases terribly with age as the testes get pretty crap at doign the same job for so many decades, the amount of genetic errors in sperm of say a 50 year old male is quite alarming. But a woman's eggs are a "fresh" with her first period as her last as a woman's eggs are actually formed in the first few hours after conception and held on for the next 50 years or so being released one at a time. The main problem with older couples is getting the sperm and egg to fuse at all, hence the in-vitro fertilisation (and most of the blame there goes to the male and his useless old man sperm).

Remember, it is not the WOMAN's fault for trying to carry a child over the age of 35, it is THE MAN's fault for waiting so damn long to try having a child. Bottom line: the woman's chromosomes are FINE into middle age, it's the man's 24/7 sperm production that is unreliable.

Really what needs to be done is run around giving every man over 40 a vasectomy!

For older women attempting pregnancy it is all-or-nothing, either the embryo implants successfully in the uterus or it doesn't. There is no middle ground of the foetus ending up deformed because 'the mother was too old'.

"Or that we don't force feed pregnant women folate enriched bread"

No, but we do as much as we trick them. Almost every grain food is fortified with folic acid so that it is almost impossible for a pregnant woman to avoid it, it is effectively the same as force feeding them folic acid pills.

 

[Dags90]

"There's also the fact that there's no medical consensus on how much/when during the pregnancy causes fetal alcohol syndrome"

Yes there is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foetal_alcohol_syndrome#Cause


Just something to say about having a child when older, the problems there happen at the moment of conception and the problems are mostly with the male's shoddy DNA.



For older women attempting pregnancy it is all-or-nothing, either the embryo implants successfully in the uterus or it doesn't. There is no middle ground of the foetus ending up deformed because 'the mother was too old'.

"Or that we don't force feed pregnant women folate enriched bread"

No, but we do as much as we trick them. Almost every grain food is fortified with folic acid so that it is almost impossible for a pregnant woman to avoid it, it is effectively the same as force feeding them folic acid pills.

That source does nothing to give a clear picture about when drinking causes FAS. It mentions that risk there increases in chances at certain intervals, but no one can say for sure whether or not the child will have FAS ahead of time. It even mentions that there is wide variation, hence the call for caution as a rule. Some are at greater risk, and others are at lesser risk and there's no real way to determine that beforehand. A woman's chromosomes are also not "fine" through middle age. There is plenty of evidence about the effects of maternal age, outside of paternal age, as a risk factor for chromosomal abnormalities. As a note, alcohol also accelerates the loss of folic acid. It's very likely this girl isn't getting enough.

 

[FuktLogik]

People. Don't have a baby unless you are 100% sure to have children.

Um, what the hell is this supposed to mean?

 

[Heartcafe]

People. Don't have a baby unless you are 100% sure to have children.

Um, what the hell is this supposed to mean?

I meant that you should have children when you WANT children. If you get pregnant by accident or such, then you must prepare your life for that change and new found responsibility or don't have the child at all (or better yet, use protection in the first place.) The girl obviously doesn't want to make an change in her habits to support her new child and from context, she doesn't to have responsibility for the child.

On the other note: hmm, that sentence does look a bit funny >.> I think I'm going to fix it up a bit.

 

[Bags159]

Why is this news? Stupid people doing stupid things that harm others isn't a very new development. It's sad. Oh well, nothing we can do.

 

[Jumplion]

"But to defend herself, the Waltham Abbey, Essex, resident says: 'I'm young and I don't feel ready to stop my life.

Fuck you. You have no right to destroy another's.

You stopped being "young" the second you got knocked up. You have a goddamn life to consider, either grow up and stop being a selfish ***** or make the decision to have an abortion.

Really, even then, she wouldn't be getting an abortion for the "right" reasons, instead still being a selfish ***** because she wants to party.

This goes beyond "it's her own body", this is abuse to not only the potential child but to herself, and if she were to have the child, if this child were to survive at all, she would be an unfit mother through and through.

 

[kannibus]

Well, that's an argument for birth control right there and I ain't talking about the baby.

 

[numbersix1979]

First of all, it begs the question: why do we care? But apparently no one around her does, either, so I don't know.

 

[Hyperrhombus]

[quote="Ghostkai" Came across this in the Metro on the way to work.[/quote]

I salute thee, fellow Metro reader!

OT: I think she`s beyond counseling at this point...
It seems, sad though it is, she will discover the dangers of alcohol during pregnancy the hard way.

 

[Treaos Serrare]

whats a unit in this situation? this is a serious question as an American I have no basis for how obscene this may actually be(the fact that this tart is a massive fucking idiot is quite apparent though)

 

[Ghostkai]

whats a unit in this situation? this is a serious question as an American I have no basis for how obscene this may actually be(the fact that this tart is a massive fucking idiot is quite apparent though)

There's a link to what a unit is in the OP.

 

[Zantos]

Is it bad that I just guess where the person is going to be from then skim through these articles to see if I'm right? Stupid slag was an Essex guess. If it's a crime article then Manchester or Liverpool is usually a good call.

 

[Terminate421]

She's going to hell.

 

[Moosh50]

Ugh... She should be dragged trough a field of broken glass, then thrown in to a pit full of dirty syringes, then covered in gasoline and set on fire. After that, a bullet between her eyes. Just to be safe. The baby would die as well but hey, the way she's been drinking the lil spud wouldn't had stood a chance even if it had been born.

Also, for anyone using the "it's her body" excuse, fuck you. It's not just her body, it's the babys body too, a body that she has no right to destroy like she is doing now. God, what an arrogant, idiotic, utter *****.

 

[Ghostkai]

I salute thee, fellow Metro reader!

OT: I think she`s beyond counseling at this point...
It seems, sad though it is, she will discover the dangers of alcohol during pregnancy the hard way.

The Metro is a quiet solice on the busy and noisy train journies through London. Love it!^_^

Though I think you're right that she seems almost beyond helping at this stage... Already been drinking while Pregnant for 5 months.

 

[TracyC]

This reminds me of the cases in the US where women are being charged with murder for actions taken that killed their fetus.

For the person who said that you can't charge a women in the States, that's actually incorrect. Some states have laws that allow people to be charged with the killing of a fetus and that's how these mothers have been charged. See: http://www.evolutionaryparenting.com/?p=246 for a discussion of these cases.

Personally, if this girl lives in one of these states, she should be charged. When you don't have an abortion and take on the responsibility of carrying a baby, you have to make certain sacrifices. It doesn't mean you can't drink at all, but rather it has to be on occasion only (when no damage has been found to be done). You have to think for 2 instead of just yourself.