I wouldn't say ALL the comments, but your point remains.

Amen to both s5 and emotedcreations. Jeez Louise, people like feeling superior.

Nothing to do with moral high ground or lack of knowledge that statistics can say anything wer want and there is no guarantee a baby will be fucked up, but having to watch my first case of FAS die on my third day on the job was enough to know I wouldn't take that risk, just as I wouldn't play Russian Roulette with my daughters now. Perhaps you think a low incidence of fucked up kids is just fine and dandy, but my life centers on improving peope's lives and I prefer to keep it that way. I know lots of people whose mothers smoked and drank and whose kids are apparently fine; I also know those who are not. And meth most definitely destroys the nervous system, which of of course includes but is not limited to brain cells, rewires the limbic system, destroys organs (one of my dialysis patients even knew his kidneys failed as he took his last shot of meth14 years ago), and all this on adults, whose systems are developed. Just because a child may well grow up fine, or even is probably going to grow up fine, why take the chance. I could PROBABLY drink a case of beer and drive 10 miles and not kill anyone or get arrested, but but I'd be wrong to play those odds as well.

I still don't think jail is the appropriate venue though.

And as far as not being interested in the problem, it's part of my life.

And, if anyone said people should be locked up for being addicts, I must have missed it.

Oh, and as to where all the crack babies are, I know of just one - my grandneice - she's in college now and doing fine, but was born with no septum between the two ventricles of her heart and has had 7 surgeries to date replacing transplanted parts.

No one feels superior; Hell, I've made my share of mistakes. I jsut try not to repeat them.

It's really hard to believe that you are so stupid as to quote babys weight and apgar score as evidence that there hasn't been any long term neurological damage AND you are even such a loser that you would brag about substance abuse while you were pregnant ?

Nope.
If you were really that stupid you wouldn't be able to tie your shoes. I simply cannot believe you. It's just too much the both of them. One or the other might have been believable. Good show though !

Sorry, Meth is addictive. It's not a state secret.
People make choices.
It's not like " woops . Look I slipped and fell in some meth ! I didn't see that !. Who left that there ? oops. I'm addicted . Oh shit ! I fell on a penis too ! OMG ! I'm preggers now ! what a terrible accident I've had "
No, not like that.
It's choices.
You can choose to have a baby or not . You can choose to do meth , or not. You can choose to do both. Whatever you choose, take responsibility for it.
Even meth addicted pregnant girls still have choices.
The wise meth addicted pregnant girls will choose rehab and get thier life together.
The not so wise, well they still make thier own choices.

I "defend" myself by saying that I'm a not only a mother, but a human being. One who is capable of making her own decisions.

"Choosing" rehab is a little difficult to do, given the dearth of rehab facilities and the fact that, in some states, admitting you are (1) pregnant and (2) using puts you in danger of being arrested, don'tcha think?

If you want to get into name-calling, what's stupider: citing the fact that I had a healthy newborn as evidence that he was a healthy newborn, or declaring that a stranger about whose health and whose child's health you know absolutely nothing has damaged her kid?

I must be a ton more stupider than you Bitch.

But oddly enough, even I know smoking and drinking is bad for children.

eh. smoking and drinking in excess is very, very bad for pregnant women and their babies. we all know that.

interestingly doctors here are not so tough or judgemental. a pregnant women is seen as a pregnant women, but a human being first. many doctors say 1 glass of wine a day is just fine (one friend's doctor said up to 2 a day with dinner or lunch was ok!), and if you **must** smoke, keep it to under 3 cigarettes a day.

for some reason i find this attitude a bit healthier than YOU SMOKED A CIGARETTE AND DRANK A GLASS OF WINE WITH DINNER, GO TO JAIL YOU DUMB FUCKING BITCH..but hey, maybe that's just me.

they also provide wonderful nursery/day care at a very low cost for mothers who wish to go back to work before their child starts school. also an allowance for each child paid by your taxes for everyone. somehow this kinder, gentler attitude works better when it comes to motherhood and pregnancy. i just can't wrap my mind around the whole warped system in the US.

this is what i was talking about.

could not have been said better.
+ infinity

This post has upset me, but I will not call anyone names or throw around cruel insults. I think we should all agree to do that.

First off, regarding the non-existent crack baby epidemic: well over 1 million infants were born between 1985 and 1995 who were exposed to cocaine. Go spend ten years working with them like I did and tell me I imagined the hell they live every day.

Your post(s) was uninformed and irresponsible. I'll join the doctor in training and the other professionals who have posted, those of us who have actually seen, first hand, the effects of drug exposure on children. . . I'm a psychologist in training, and my area of specialty is prenatal development and the first three years.

1) Drugs and alcohol damage your child in-utero, period. Your may not show effects, because you are lucky. Either the use wasn't during a critical development period, was low enough not to cause extensive damage, and you're lucky enough not to have the genetic vulnerability for FAS or other effects. There are cases of fraternal twins when one got FAS and another didn't, genetic vulnerability plays a role . . . but no one knows if they're vulnerable or not. Hopefully you won't see learning disabilities, mood problems, or ADHD later in your own child. My sense is that you drank a glass of wine now and again, but you didn't get loaded. Good parenting.

2) In the US, after about the 20th week abortion is rare. First trimester, the baby is about as biologically complex as mold. Third trimester, the baby can survive outside the womb. They sleep, react to what's going on outside, suck their thumb . . . they're babies. With cheap rent. If you're doing drugs after month three, it isn't just your body anymore.

3) I'm all for drug rehab, and my county has a model drug-court program. But meth is hard to kick, the sobriety rate is painfully low. In my county (and it's an affluent county) 11% of kids are born drug exposed. Our foster care placement rate is the highest its been in a decade. And meth is more neurologically damaging than heroin or cocaine for the infant.

If you incarcerate a mother who continues to use, you prevent further risk to the child. I just don't think the chance should be taken on the child. We have a program where you participate in rehab and get random drug tested. You test clean, you stay out and you get to keep the child. Test dirty, you go to jail. Some states, although this is unfortunately rarer, have special prison with units for pregnant mothers, and the mother can still work towards reunification.

So you can have both, rehab, or jail for those that keep using. You may consider the state's moves reactionary, fascist even. But all you're thinking about is yourself, your own rights, not the children that will have to live with the consequences.

i'm not sure this overly active columnist thing is as fun as we'd imagine. did you write this article thinking everyone was going to call you a genius and laud your angle?
no, you've been saving the vitriol and have the bullet points on a pad by your computer.

i'm very excited that the people defending the rights of meth addicted parents is an extreme minority. you cannot say that any man or woman without child is subject to prosecution of laws but a woman who is pregnant is free from the shackles. say it out loud, it sounds fucking stupid.