Drugs and Pregnancy

Running head: Drugs and Pregnancy

Drugs and Pregnancy

Tameka Wanshe Dean

American Public University

Professor Diane Bryan

December 09, 2012

Drugs and Pregnancy

Drugs and Pregnancy

According to the Women's News Journal from "Off our Backs", author Debbie Ratterman writes about her thoughts on the issues of drugs and pregnancy and how it affects young children from drug-addicts mothers. In her article, Ratterman explains how the disturbing trend in the recent on- set of the media coverage of children that were born to drug-addictive mothers has been the use of term "biologically inferior" to describe these children behavior (Ratterman, 1989). From Ratterman's explanation, she implies that "we do not label children with spina bifida or mental retardation as "biologically inferior" (Ratterman, 1989). The reason I chose this article is because I was once an often drink before I discover I was pregnant in 2000, but lucky I quit ahead of time where my baby was alcohol free and healthy. However, applying the stigma of this label to children exposed to prenatally to drugs is another aspect of "blaming the victim" approach to the problem. Like "illegitimate children" of past centuries, these children may be forced to carry the blame society attaches to their mothers (Ratterman, 1989).

Before we examine the major role that drugs and drug-taking behavior play in our lives today, it is important to examine the historical foundation of drug use (Levinthal, pg. 9). We need to understand why drug-taking behavior has been so pervasive over many centuries of human history and why drug-taking behavior remains so compelling for us in our society. We also need to understand the ways in which our society has responded to problems associated with drug use (Levinthal, pg. 9). Given the great variability in attitudes toward drugs and drug-

Drugs and Pregnancy

taking behavior across cultures and society, it is useful to base our discussion on the answer to simple, but fundamental question: What is the intent or motivation on the part of the drug use with respect to this kind of behavior? In terms of the intent of the individual, drug-taking behavior can be classified as either instrumental or recreational (Levinthal, pg.5). Instrumental use is usually referred as "the motivation of the drug user who takes the drug in purpose of getting high" (pg.5). However, recreational use is commonly refer as "the motivation of the drug user to take the drug to get "high" or get the pleasurable effect" (pg. 6). In contrast, the legal status of the drug itself or whether we agree with the reason for the drug-taking behavior is not the issue in the instrumental use here. Whereas, whatever happens as a consequence of recreational drug-taking behavior is viewed not as a means to an end, but as an end unto itself (pg. 6).

In the United States, approximately 50,000 babies are born annually who have been exposed to drug in utero. A recent national study of all socioeconomic groups by the National Association of Perinatal Addiction Research and Education found that 11% of pregnant women use illegal drugs at some point during their pregnancy (Ratterman, 1989). The drugs most commonly used were marijuana, cocaine, heroin, PCP, amphetamines, and crack (Ratterman, 1989). Unlike experimenters, drug abusers are seriously troubled young people who are impulsive, deficient in cognitive and emotional self-regulation and inclined to express their unhappiness through antisocial acts. Longitudinal evidence reveals that their impulsive, disruptive, hostile styles often are evident during the preschool years. Environmental factors

Drugs and Pregnancy

such as low SES, family mental