"...there is something profoundly creepy about a government agency officially telling women to forgo pleasurable or life-improving choices solely on the basis of their status as the theoretical mothers of the nation's children."

CDC to Women: Don't Drink. Or Take Antidepressants. Or Forget Your Folic Acid. Or Treat Pain. - Hit & Run : Reason.com: "The Internet is freaking out today over a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that women of childbearing age who are not on birth control should abstain from alcohol, lest they unknowingly damage their hypothetical progeny. USA Today reported: “Alcohol can permanently harm a developing baby before a woman knows she is pregnant,” said Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “About half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned, and even if planned, most women won’t know they are pregnant for the first month or so, when they might still be drinking. The risk is real. Why take the chance?”  Which makes now a good moment for a reminder that this is hardly the first time the CDC has treated women as irresponsible potential baby-porters.

...there is something profoundly creepy about a government agency officially telling women to forgo pleasurable or life-improving choices solely on the basis of their status as the theoretical mothers of the nation's children."

Drink Up, Moms! - Reason.com: "Despite the familiar surgeon general’s warning advising women to abstain completely from alcoholic beverages during pregnancy “because of the risk of birth defects,” there has never been any solid evidence that light to moderate consumption harms the fetus. New research from Denmark, funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), indicates once again that heavy drinking is the real hazard.

In a study involving more than 1,600 women reported in the June issue of BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, children whose mothers consumed nine or more drinks per week during pregnancy had shorter attention spans than children of abstainers at age 5 and were five times as likely to have low IQs. But no such effects were apparent in the children of women whose alcohol consumption during pregnancy was light (one to four drinks per week) or moderate (five to eight drinks per week). “Our findings show that low to moderate drinking is not associated with adverse effects on the children aged 5,” the researchers said. A “drink” as defined in this study contained 12 grams of pure ethanol, compared to the American standard of 14 grams, one-sixth more. But given the relatively wide consumption ranges, that difference probably does not matter much. Furthermore, self-reported drinking, especially by pregnant women, probably underestimates actual consumption, meaning that the amounts associated with no neurological impairment may be larger than those indicated by the study."