Kayla Donahue
For women being tested
1/31/10
Everyone should get a fair chance to start out in life. I think that pregnant women should be tested. It is only fair for the baby to have a normal healthy chance in life.
All women should be tested while being pregnant. No women should be drinking, smoking or doing drugs while carrying an infant. If that’s what they are going to do then they do not need to have a child. If the women does drugs or drinks it is their responsibility to quit for the baby’s sake. If the mother does that the child doesn’t even have a chance at being healthy. The baby could develop FAS, serious problems, or disorders. They should be clean and want to bring a healthy baby into this world. Abusing alcohol or drugs while being pregnant should be a crime, it is not right and it tortures the fetus. It is endangering your baby and it’s bound to come out having problems or retardation. It is not fair to the baby when they cannot control the outcome of being born healthy. When they grow up they want a chance to be like every other healthy child in this world. It is sad looking at children that have problems that could have been prevented if the mother was clean while she was pregnant with the baby.
“Pregnant woman may be held criminally liable for any action during her pregnancy that would "endanger the life, health or comfort of her fetus.” I can agree with this I do think that pregnant women should be held criminally liable for the endangerment of their fetus. It is no one else’s problem or concern for the fetus but the mothers. No one can take blame for the mother’s action. There is no known safe amount of alcohol to drink while pregnant.
“In the following viewpoint, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) maintains that any alcohol consumption during pregnancy may be harmful to the unborn baby. According to the CDC, alcohol can cause fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) that result in lifelong physical, mental, and behavioral disabilities. These problems can be prevented simply by not drinking alcohol while pregnant, it insists. The CDC is a government agency that works to protect the health and safety of all Americans.” FASDs can be prevented by not having the mother drink at all during pregnancy. This is common knowledge for mothers to know well being pregnant. If the mother thinks that she cannot handle it then she should consider not having kids, if she has a problem.
“When a pregnant woman drinks alcohol, so does her unborn baby. There is no known safe amount of alcohol to drink while pregnant and there also does not appear to be a safe time to drink during pregnancy either. Therefore, it is recommended that women abstain from drinking alcohol at any time during pregnancy. Women who are sexually active and do not use effective birth control should also refrain from drinking because they could become pregnant and not know for several weeks or more.” This is a very good point, no alcohol is appropriate for a fetus. They say that a glass of wine once in awhile is okay and isn't harmful to the fetus, but I believe any alcohol substance is bad.
Marshall, Mary Faith. "Drug Tests of Pregnant Women Are Discriminatory." Opposing Viewpoints: Chemical Dependency. Ed. Laura K. Egendorf. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2003. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale.
Century College Library. 31 Jan. 2010
Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and. "Any Alcohol Use During Pregnancy Is Harmful." Opposing Viewpoints: Alcohol. Ed. Andrea C. Nakaya. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Century College Library. 31 Jan. 2010
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
To test or not to test?
Jessica Deutsch
English 1022
Brian Lewis
To test or not to test?
When a mother becomes pregnant she wants to keep her baby as healthy and safe as she can while it is in the womb. When mothers go to the doctor for their daily check ups on the baby, sometimes taking a urine test is a must. The results of the urine test sometimes turn out to be tested positive for drug use, and then some hospitals turn it over to the police. Now the controversy is should mothers be tested for drug use when they are pregnant or is it discriminatory and against the rights of the fourth amendment? I for one believe that it can be both a must and discriminatory. I feel that it is both because I do think that mothers should be put into treatment because they are not only hurting themselves by being on drugs but they are hurting the fetus too. But also some doctors are getting these positive urine tests back and only handing in the ones to the police who are lower class, or of a different nationality, and I don’t think that’s right. Every nationality and class status should be reported because they are potentially hurting another person too.
Many people believe that prosecuting a mother for using any type of drugs while being pregnant isn’t fair for many reasons. I believe that a mother shouldn’t get prosecuted but she immediately be put into treatment for her and her baby’s sake. Many people think urine testing on pregnant women is against the fourth amendment. The fourth amendment protects searches against citizen’s houses, persons, papers, and effects, not against urine testing which someone has passed and then abandoned it for medical reasons. When a mother goes to the doctor and the doctor asks for a urine sample if they are free willing to give it up they can be giving up the evidence if any is found, and then there wouldn’t be any privacy to invade. When some of the samples of urine were turned into the police the districts courts said, “the testing policy wasn’t to arrest patients, but to facilitate their treatment and protect both the mother and unborn child" (Testing Pregnant Women…Constitutional). The point of taking urine tests is to have an immediate response to the mother and her baby, instead of letting the drug abuse hurt the baby even if the mother doesn’t care. Getting mothers into drug treatment is the main importance on taking these urine tests. When some doctors and nurses agreed to providing the police with the positive urine tests it was 1) to report child abuse and 2) to have arrests be a very strong incentive for wanting women to stop abusing drugs while being pregnant, and get themselves into treatment (Testing Pregnant Women…Constitutional).
Scalia, Rehnquist and Clarence Thomas. "Testing Pregnant Women for
Drug Abuse Is Constitutional." San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Opposing
Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 29 Jan. 2010
English 1022
Brian Lewis
To test or not to test?
When a mother becomes pregnant she wants to keep her baby as healthy and safe as she can while it is in the womb. When mothers go to the doctor for their daily check ups on the baby, sometimes taking a urine test is a must. The results of the urine test sometimes turn out to be tested positive for drug use, and then some hospitals turn it over to the police. Now the controversy is should mothers be tested for drug use when they are pregnant or is it discriminatory and against the rights of the fourth amendment? I for one believe that it can be both a must and discriminatory. I feel that it is both because I do think that mothers should be put into treatment because they are not only hurting themselves by being on drugs but they are hurting the fetus too. But also some doctors are getting these positive urine tests back and only handing in the ones to the police who are lower class, or of a different nationality, and I don’t think that’s right. Every nationality and class status should be reported because they are potentially hurting another person too.
Many people believe that prosecuting a mother for using any type of drugs while being pregnant isn’t fair for many reasons. I believe that a mother shouldn’t get prosecuted but she immediately be put into treatment for her and her baby’s sake. Many people think urine testing on pregnant women is against the fourth amendment. The fourth amendment protects searches against citizen’s houses, persons, papers, and effects, not against urine testing which someone has passed and then abandoned it for medical reasons. When a mother goes to the doctor and the doctor asks for a urine sample if they are free willing to give it up they can be giving up the evidence if any is found, and then there wouldn’t be any privacy to invade. When some of the samples of urine were turned into the police the districts courts said, “the testing policy wasn’t to arrest patients, but to facilitate their treatment and protect both the mother and unborn child" (Testing Pregnant Women…Constitutional). The point of taking urine tests is to have an immediate response to the mother and her baby, instead of letting the drug abuse hurt the baby even if the mother doesn’t care. Getting mothers into drug treatment is the main importance on taking these urine tests. When some doctors and nurses agreed to providing the police with the positive urine tests it was 1) to report child abuse and 2) to have arrests be a very strong incentive for wanting women to stop abusing drugs while being pregnant, and get themselves into treatment (Testing Pregnant Women…Constitutional).
Scalia, Rehnquist and Clarence Thomas. "Testing Pregnant Women for
Drug Abuse Is Constitutional." San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Opposing
Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 29 Jan. 2010
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