Anne, how do you suggest advertising to women, who may have no intention to get pregnant, but do so accidently?

This has happened to at least 2 of my friends, who fell pregnant, even though they were using contraception, and did not know until well into the first trimester. As they didn't know, and didn't expect to be pregnant, they did not modify their drinking behaviour. As soon as they realised they were pregnant they did not drink alcohol for the duration of the pregnancy.

Neither child was born with any problems due to alcohol consumption by the mother, but the guilt and worry of one of my friends contributed to a decline in her mental health during pregnancy and after the birth of her child. She had one day during her first trimester, where she consumed quite a lot of alcohol, (not knowing she was pregnant), she felt so bad about this, that the worry and guilt caused severe depression.

I also know a woman that aborted a foetus because she was so convinced that her few drinks, while in the first trimester, and not knowing she was pregnant, would cause birth defects in the developing foetus. This was due, in part, to well meaning people telling her that she had damaged the foetus and would have to care for a disabled child for the rest of her life. Where do we draw the line between education and vilification of those who unwittingly make a mistake.

I think we need to educate people on the effects of alcohol on the foetus, but unfortunately, like other well meaning public health campaigns, can turn into yet another stick to beat women with, and blame women. We have just seen this with the public, (and often very nasty), outrage against a woman that was photographed smoking a cigarette while pregnant.

Your stories are terrible Judith and i really feel for those mothers. However personally i would rather have had my mental health compromised worrying about my baby during pregnancy than worrying about him for the rest of his life because he has Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. I, unlike others, dont think that FASD is 100% preventable and you have cited many reasons why this is the case. While the women you know may know that alcohol is dangerous, there are many who don't and a media campaign will help alleviate this. Please dont think im minimising what your friends went through because im not, but having a child with FASD is much more emotionally, financially, physically, and mentally draining and damaging than having nine months of worry. I am not in favour of vilification of any kind whether the mother is aware of the dangers or not. No woman wants to hurt her child and the rffada is run with a 'no blame no shame' ethos. Information and education is essential and it may be that only when you know first hand of the struggles that people with FASD and their families go through day after day year after year and even minute after minute that you can truly understand the critical need for this education.

As I said Anne, I have no problem with educating people of the problems of drinking alcohol when pregnant, and no problem with educating people about the harm caused.

You may not personally value your mental health, but my friends severe depression, both while pregnant, and after her child was born is far more damaging to both her and her child than a few drinks would have ever caused. There is nothing worse for a mother than believing that she has possibly injured her child, even if she did so unknowingly.

There needs to be more factual information, rather than the exaggeration and fear tactics used in public health campaigns, so that we don't end up with the situation my friends were in.

Hi Charles, here is a review of the literature by the government health department.

http://www.health.gov.au/internet/alcohol/publishing.nsf/Content/746BAD892492B586CA2572610010C29A/$File/fetalcsyn.pdf

It provides some interesting facts on FAS, and FAE.

Judith, your post sent a chill up my spine. I had never considered this issue before. If I were the women, I would have an abortion immediately (a decision which is overwhelmingly wretching no matter the reason). I'm not going to presume to tell women how to react in this situation, but I do query when you say, "There is nothing worse for a mother than believing that she has possibly injured her child, even if she did so unknowingly." Wouldn't it be even worse if the mother knew she HAD actually injured her now-born child? Either way, you are correct to raise the issue that public health campaigns do explicitly manipulate fear, not only in their target audiences, but beyond. Public health campaigners have become too intoxicated with the long-term graphic fear campaigns against Big Tobacco. They seek to copy the same fear exploitation in every new public health "crisis". In the context of non-tobacco products - such as booze - I wonder if the sort of negative psychological externalities you highlight (with your friends) is worth the benefits, especially when the new health "crisis" does not involve the equivalent of tobacco companies spending gazillions over decades to cover the fact that smoking causes lung cancer.

Kim, I spoke about the situation my friends were in because I want to show that these public health campaigns need to be more informative of the actual facts of a situation, the level of risk, and the levels of harm, that are involved. At the moment we have the fear without the facts.

None of my friends, mentioned in my post, are alcoholic, or even heavy drinkers, they were women that had a few social drinks, in other words they were not in any high risk category for having a child with FAS or FAE. Unfortunately the way these campaigns are run, they were given a very distorted picture of the actual risk to the foetus, with the few drinks they had while not realising they were pregnant. This caused unnecessary fear, worry and depression, as they were not told that the risks to the foetus were fairly minimal in their cases, and they were unlikely to have a child with FASD or FAE.

A pregnant woman is having to deal with a huge influx of hormones already, they are dealing with changes to their lives and bodies that are often very frightening to deal with, what they don't need is exaggerated fear campaigns, they need facts.

A woman who is at high risk of having a child with FAS, needs support, not condemnation. Too often we see people condemned and vilified as a result of these public health campaigns, rather than supported and helped.