No alcohol for women of child bearing age !

I am the least likely person to think anything is paternalistic or misogynistic but when you target women without suggesting that men should do something about alcohol consumption when it is also damaging, I can’t see any other way of looking at it.

Growing up in London I have witnessed first hand the abuse of alcohol by young men and women. My family of origin drank alcohol with our meals but never just alcohol on its own. I married an English man who could not understand that heavy drinking was abusing his body and the people around him. Like cigarettes people don't want to hear how bad alcohol can be to your system. I still drink alcohol with my meals, not every day. Education is the only way forward. Arguing about the different levels of harm alcohol has on the bodies of men and women is taking attention away from the truth that heavy drinking is harmful, it can cause different problems for males and females.
p.s. Please don't tell me your 94 year old father drank whiskey and smoked cigars every day of his life and never got sick.

If it wasn't for alcohol I wouldn't have my eldest? Hot sunny hols and loads of cold drinks?

Marjgran

Not what I heard so can’t understand the amount of coverage - WH inflated the issue, WHO man clearly said it was a draft, that the idea is that warning should be given to anyone wishing to / at risk of / being pregnant that there is no safe level of alcohol in early pregancy. A case of taking a double gin and cold bath, and deep breath.

I agree wholeheartedly Marjgran and the others who have made similar points.

It's one line of text in a 33 page draft document. I expect it will be gone from the final document, or the word "prevent" will become "discourage".

While we should always be aware of any action that seeks to undermine our rights, describing this as misogynistic and paternalistic is, IMO, over-reaction. At a time when the WHO is under attack from many sources, you have to wonder why a draft document is being reported on and why it is causing so much angst.

LovelyLady

So sad when we consider banning anything. Can we not think for ourselves after at least 12 years of compulsory education.
Unless something is banned we, ok not everyone, seem to assume it’s ok for us.
Breast feeding whilst drinking alcohol in my opinion, is unforgivable, drinking whilst pregnant, in my opinion, is abuse. Any alcohol before driving, in my opinion,
is dangerous. We know drugs do us no good yet many smoke and snort illegal substances. I’m wondering what some were taught in school.
To stop this almost self destructive behaviour, it should be emphasised in schools, but that would entail checking the school staff for substance usage. Hair strand tests etc. Now that would be an interesting report to read. I’m wondering how many staff would pass this test!

the point of this though, is that it is wholely aimed at women and reproduction....nothing about men and reproduction, nothing about driving, teachers or anything else. I think if it had been about the abuse of alcohol generally, women would not be so annoyed.

So sad when we consider banning anything. Can we not think for ourselves after at least 12 years of compulsory education.
Unless something is banned we, ok not everyone, seem to assume it’s ok for us.
Breast feeding whilst drinking alcohol in my opinion, is unforgivable, drinking whilst pregnant, in my opinion, is abuse. Any alcohol before driving, in my opinion,
is dangerous. We know drugs do us no good yet many smoke and snort illegal substances. I’m wondering what some were taught in school.
To stop this almost self destructive behaviour, it should be emphasised in schools, but that would entail checking the school staff for substance usage. Hair strand tests etc. Now that would be an interesting report to read. I’m wondering how many staff would pass this test!

Marjgran

Not what I heard so can’t understand the amount of coverage - WH inflated the issue, WHO man clearly said it was a draft, that the idea is that warning should be given to anyone wishing to / at risk of / being pregnant that there is no safe level of alcohol in early pregancy. A case of taking a double gin and cold bath, and deep breath.

have you read the actual document?...or heard the Women's hour interview? I don't think its an acceptable excuse to say "its a draft"

Not what I heard so can’t understand the amount of coverage - WH inflated the issue, WHO man clearly said it was a draft, that the idea is that warning should be given to anyone wishing to / at risk of / being pregnant that there is no safe level of alcohol in early pregancy. A case of taking a double gin and cold bath, and deep breath.

she should have pointed out that alcohol affects sperm as well as the embryo

I know a couple who nearly split up about this. He told her that as they were 'trying for a child' she should give up all drinking alcohol. She said she was happy to do that if he stopped too to support here. He refused, saying there was no need as he was not going to carry the child.

She argued that that was the wrong attitude, and that they were both in this together. He said it was nonsense. Still together, but no children.

My son has FASD, he is 21, I doubt he will ever be able to live alone, have a job, drive etc etc. FASD is a horrendous lifelong disability that can be prevented by having no alcohol during pregnancy. We need to make everyone aware of this condition.

I distinctly remember a nurse advising me that if I wanted a baby to sleep through a nice little tot of sherry before the last feed would help! It did,too. Funnily enough, out of my 4 children only one drinks at all.

The misogynistic, controlling nitwits at WHO should maybe spend some time thinking about how much safer societies all over the world would be and how many women and children's lives would be saved if men were banned from consuming alcohol.

I am not able to have any more children, courtesy of Mother Nature.
Does this mean I should start boozing more earnestly?
(I'm only an odd G+T gal atm.)

Namsnanny

Alegrias1

Good lord, nobody's banning anything. Why do people jump to such ridiculous conclusions?

Read the advice, rather than the inflammatory reporting.

people are getting agitated....
But language used in your post is contributing to everyone's agitation Alegrias1! Surely you see that?

Sorry, I won't give my opinion of people's over-reaction in the future in case it just winds them up more.

(Except I will, of course)

Guiness was recommended by the nurses at the hospital as it has iron in it, I was often low in iron in pregnancy. I tried drinking it one evening and threw up everywhere, so no thanks to that.

Blessed be the fruit juice

Bijou

In the 1920s My mother was advised by her doctor to have a glass of stout daily and had two healthy children. In 1946 my sister was given Guiness in hospital after giving birth.
Whilst pregnant and after I had my daily glass and at the age of 98 still have my daily Guiness.

Guinness or Mackeson was recommended to help the milk come in!!

Blessed be the Fruit she said, putting on her white bonnet.

I didn't even have a sip of wine when I was pregnant. Also, not all women of childbearing age will bear children. Clickbait, because that is now what WHO said; it was all about F.A.S. and infertility, and not carrying a child to term. "The organization's draft Global Alcohol Action Plan 2022-2030 states that emphasis should be placed on the "prevention of drinking among pregnant women and women of childbearing age" because it could impact their chances of giving birth.
"One of the most dramatic manifestations of harm to persons other than drinkers is prenatal alcohol exposure and the development of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders," the draft plan reads." www.newsweek.com/who-telling-women-childbearing-age-not-drink-likened-handmaids-tale-1601530

While we were trying to get pregnant and during pregnancy, I didn’t touch alcohol. I think they ought to rewrite their message to advise that women and men of childcreating age should not drink. It will affect men far, far, far, far longer than it will affect women. E.g. Rod Stewart.

Someone that wants to get pregnant should abstain from six months before onwards someone who gets pregnant by accident and decides to go ahead shouldcstopnfrom then onwards. Its always been fine. Obviously of am alcoholic gets pregnant no amount of WHO legislation will make a difference. However I agree if women of child bearing age shouldn't drink then men should never drink at all as they can father children for far longer than women can get pregnant.

In the 1920s My mother was advised by her doctor to have a glass of stout daily and had two healthy children. In 1946 my sister was given Guiness in hospital after giving birth.
Whilst pregnant and after I had my daily glass and at the age of 98 still have my daily Guiness.

Absolutely, ban men too. Also, what about women of child bearing age who know they will not have children through choice? Sterilisation before they can go to a pub? Utterly disgusting male orientated suggestion

And I thought it was WHO's job to do things like 'vaccinate the world' - but no, that's for Covax...? While they push social control by covert means.