"I suggested a compulsory 'stop smoking' course as it is not a punishment of the pregnant woman, like a fine would be, but it is clearly advocating the welfare and health of an unborn child."
I dunno; I suspect that a lot of smokers would consider it very much in terms of a punishment, and very much in terms of targeted discrimination. I'm not going to take a polemic stance on this specific issue (primarily because I don't have one), but just for the sake of dialectic: what about, for example, expectant mothers who eat a lot of junk food? What about those who don't exercise as much as you or I might think they should-- or those who exercise too much? The ones who drink? The ones who suffer from anxiety or stress-related neurosis? The ones who stand under trees in thunderstorms...?
You get the idea. Are we to single out mothers who smoke, when there are others whose lifestyles might well be even less healthy for their unborn children? If not, where do we stop legislating? Do we demand that all pregnant women attend a whole slew of programmes to discourage them from every conceivable foetus-damaging habit, just to cover all the bases? On exactly what kind of fulcrum could we consistently balance the rights of the mother against the rights of an unborn child?
I sure don't know-- but I do know you'd have a bastard of a time getting more than two or three members of the public to come to a consensus...
"I feel that the principal of choice SHOULD be undermind if it is to the detriment of another being."
Well, again (in a much more general sense), the question there is: where do you draw the line? Who are we going to trust to define and administer, for example, "the detriment of another being"? The government...?
I expect this could be a long on-going debate! =) I do see your point. Where do we stop? Legislate everything? No, but there certainly needs to be consideration of drug use(i.e. smoking, drugs and alcohol)as this has a direct impact - I would argue a similar case for alcohol consumption and the effects through Foetal Alcohol Syndrome etc...I would guess that the behaviour and choices of a pregnant woman would need to be assessed in terms of the level of direct impact and damage to the foetus (and indeed the expectant mother)and the level of risk.
ReplyDeleteYour example of anxiety or stress-related neurosis is not lifestyle choice, and I assume there is a lot of support for expectant mothers with mental health issues...if there is any risk towards the expectant mother and child, social services would intervene!
I would suggest that expectant mothers would not take is as punishment, but rather as support and help in protecting the health of their unborn child.
Thanks for the debate =)