Family, Self

One In Five White Women Has Smoked While Pregnant

smoking cigarette

Personally, I'm a big fan of proof that people are idiots. It's so refreshing when a society, community or group of people go about their lives thinking they're not moronic in their behavior, but in reality, they're clearly dumb as sh*t. An example of such atrocious idiocy came in a recently released study that found 1 in 5 white women have smoked while pregnant. Smoking isn't bad enough for the mother as it is, so why not subject the fetus to it as well? Yeah, great idea.

The study, conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, discovered that within the 30 days prior to the study, 21.8 percent of white women between ages 15 and 44 had smoked a cigarette. One cigarette may not seem like a big deal, but let's just think about the fragility of a fetus for a second before you start saying I'm the idiot. In contrast to these findings, 14.2 percent of black women and 6.5 percent of Hispanic women of the same age group had smoked a cigarette within those 30 days. A much smaller percentage, but still, come on ladies.

It would be one thing if it were 1957 and people didn't know any better, or if you were January Jones playing Betty Draper on the set of Mad Men and your pregnancy was just part of the storyline, but since it's safe to assume none of the women were in either possible situation, they should be ashamed of such irresponsible behavior. If you're smoking while you're pregnant — a habit that can lead to SIDS, fetal hypoxia, low birthweight and other issues — you will probably, or rather, most definitely be lighting up after the baby is born, which leads to a whole other world of illnesses, including asthma. Who the hell wants to be the reason behind their baby's physical issues because they can't stop being so selfish about their stupid habits? 

The study went on to evaluate both alcohol and drug use in pregnant women, again based on their ethnicity. Black and white women were almost neck-to-neck at 12.8 percent and 12.2 percent respectively, while only 7.4 percent of Hispanic women have drunk alcohol while preggers. When it came to drug use, black women were more likely to indulge at 7.7 percent, with white and Hispanic women at 4.4 percent and 3.1 percent when it came to partaking in illegal substances. 

Unfortunately there's no law that says you can't live your life as you want while pregnant. If there were, that would set our society back to the Dark Ages in regards to feminism and free will. However, if you're pregnant and you can't put an end to your vices for the good of your future child, then you should really consider whether or not you're even capable of being a parent. Don't be an idiot. Respect your body, your health and that of your child.

Have you ever smoked while pregnant?

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