Should women who give birth to a child with FAS be penalized? Why or why not?
Should the woman who gives birth to a child with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) be penalized in some manner? The answer to this question is a bit more complicated than a simple yes or no, however. The child will require economic and psychosocial support, possibly for the rest of his or her life, an expenditure that might cost many tens of thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of dollars over the child’s lifespan. This will be necessitated because the child’s struggles were entirely preventable, had the mother abstained from alcohol use during her pregnancy. The mother’s alcohol use behaviors during pregnancy are the sole determinant whether the infant develops FAS.
Many infants who have FAS have a mild form of the disorder that might not even be recognized by a physician with great experience in working with children with FAS. Even the most severe form can be difficult to diagnose at times. The subtle forms of FAS would be exceptionally difficult to definitively diagnose, and the danger would exist that the mother would be penalized for a condition that the infant did not have.
The conundrum is this: FAS can be entirely prevented by the simple expedient of maternal abstinence from alcohol during pregnancy. One solution would be to require that women planning to become pregnant to abstain from alcohol. However, many pregnancies are unplanned, which negates this possible solution. Further, for a number of reasons many women do not know that they are pregnant until the second or even the third month of pregnancy. If the mother had consumed alcohol at a time when she did not know that she was pregnant, the exposure of the fetus to the alcohol would be accidental.
Should women who give birth to a child with FAS be penalized? Why or why not?
Trending now
This is a popular solution!
Step by step
Solved in 3 steps
Should women who give birth to a child addicted to other illegal substances be penalized? Why or why not?
by Bartleby Expert
