I seriously feel for any woman who has been pregnant recently, is pregnant now or is considering it for the future. As we all know, the list of pregnancy 'rules' has expanded ten-fold in the last five years. Don't eat fish. Don't drink alcohol. Do exercise, but don't get too hot. Don't sleep on your back... Ah the joys of living in a 'risk' society.
To make matters worse, the Los Angeles Times discusses the dangers of 'fetal programming' or put more simply, all the ways a pregnant woman can cause irreparable, lifetime damage to her baby just by breathing. Now, researchers are arguing pregnant women do not just have to be worried about what they put into their bodies; subtle changes in the environment can also affect pregnancy outcomes.
"Mounting scientific evidence suggests that fetuses are surprisingly susceptible to outside influences, such as food, environmental chemicals and pollutants, infections, even stress. Under this theory -- called fetal programming -- babies are born not just with traits dictated by their parents' genes, such as brown eyes and olive skin. They may be born with a tendency to develop asthma, diabetes or other illnesses based on what their mothers ate and were exposed to during pregnancy".
As if you weren't sufficiently freaked out, some scientists are also saying that exposure to supposedly 'harmless' doses of certain substances can still affect the fetus if the ingestion or exposure to a particular substance occurs at particular stages of fetal development. So basically, eating one too many tins of tuna at one particular point in the pregnancy may cause irreparable fetal damage. Even emotional trauma or stress during the pregnancy can 'perturb' fetal programming.
How does a pregnant women navigate pregnancy under this pressure? The author of the article seems to contend that based on the evidence, pregnant women should be empowered with information. I agree with this view in theory; however this is an overly simplistic means to achieving a healthy end. The women who are most able to absorb this sort of information (or get it at all) are women who are educated, financially secure and statistically 'older'. If you don't have a good health provider, have never read a book about pregnancy in your life or live in an unsupportive domestic environment, the chances that you would be able to maintain an awareness of all of these 'risks' and act on them responsibly are slim at best. Most women have to seek this sort of information out themselves; obstetric appointments (for those women that have them) are appallingly short. Unless you have private care, there is not alot of time for questions. Whilst the onus is inevitably placed on pregnant women to protect a fetus, some responsibility should also be attributed to doctors and other prenatal healthcare providers in providing ALL pregnant women with the tools to have a safe pregnancy.
Source: http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-fetal12nov12,0,2140947.story?page=1&coll=la-home-middleright
Showing posts with label fetal rights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fetal rights. Show all posts
22 April 2007
booze alert for pregnant mums: safety measure or scare tactic?
As I was perusing my copy of the Sunday Age over breakfast this morning, I came across this article about the perils of drinking in pregnancy which is, as anyone who has ever had a baby will know, is not a new concern. According to new guidelines set out by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), warning labels will be placed on bottles to alert pregnant women to the risks of drinking for the fetus. You can read the whole article here: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/booze-alert-for-pregnant-mums/2007/04/21/1176697155273.html
I have very mixed feelings about this. I've never been pregnant so I don't know how it feels to negotiate the mixed messages pregnant women are given with regard to making lifestyle decisions such as whether to have a glass of wine or to participate in any 'risky' behaviour. In America, alcohol bottles have the warning shown in the picture above. I was particularly captivated by the label this year over Christmas dinner with my parents. On some level, I felt like the label was another blatant privileging of fetal rights over mother's rights. I think for the most part, women are generally aware that drinking significant amounts of alcohol in pregnancy can interfere with the development of a fetus. Maybe I am being naive, but how many women really have no sense at all that alcohol is potentially dangerous during pregnancy? I think that some of the 'risk' management in pregnancy often positions women as passive dupes; that the government needs to tell women what to do in order to protect unborn babies from their irresponsible mothers. It just rubs me the wrong way. Whilst perhaps a positive step in educating women in pregnancy, I think this issue is more closely tied to issues of fetal rights. What bothers me is that the government and/or cultural institutions are so worried about women causing harm to their fetuses by drinking alcohol, no one seems to care about women who are actually addicted to alcohol? The health of the woman in this case is totally neglected in favour of the baby. Warning labels aren't being placed on alcohol bottles for the general population; they are being placed on bottles because fetal lives are 'at risk'. Although pregnancy involves certain ethical obligations, it is legally and politically problematic to assume that a woman must sacrifice her self-sovereignty for public interest even if we do not condone her lifestyle choices during pregnancy. As a consequence of such protracted and divisive political feuds surrounding fetal rights, pregnant women are increasingly perceived as merely ‘uterine environments’ and their bodies are policed as sites for ‘public inspection’ (Duden 1999: 24).
Why do fetal rights matter for women?
For many people, it is hard to deny that pregnant women do have certain responsibilities to the unborn; however, the institutionalised social and medical management of pregnancy as an experience to be had in the public is extremely problematic. The privileging of fetal rights potentially encourages the subordination of women’s reproductive rights in protecting the survival of the fetus at all costs. On the other hand, not recognising fetal identity may alienate many women who do see fetuses as babies.
Women experience their relationship to the politics of fetal rights differently on the basis of class, race, sexuality and religious or cultural background. For example, the rules of self-sacrifice in pregnancy (like not drinking or smoking) are commonly seen as the inevitable path to motherhood for many middle-class women (i.e. it's just what you do. period.) In contrast, poor women or young mothers are seen as being ill-equipped to make responsible choices simply because they do not have the financial means or the experience/knowledge to defend themselves. In my view, the crux of the fetal rights debate rests in how women can be pregnant without sacrificing their rights as citizens.
I wrote a similar post about pregnancy and smoking:
Here are a few other articles on drinking in pregnancy from The Age today:
I am really interested in what you think about this issue. How have you made your choice about drinking alcohol in pregnancy? Have people in your life (or complete strangers) judged you for the choices you've made? Feel free to share your thoughts and I'll post them on the blog.
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