WHO suggests prevention of alcohol consumption by women of childbearing age

Faith

This is the news doing the rounds over the last 24 hours - as part of the World Health Organisation's draft Global Alcohol Action Plan 2022-2030, it specifically mentions “Appropriate attention should be given to prevention of the initiation of drinking among children and adolescents, prevention of drinking among pregnant women and women of childbearing age, and protection of people from pressures to drink, especially in societies with high levels of alcohol consumption where heavy drinkers are encouraged to drink even more.”

Dial Hard

I still genuinely cannot get my head around this one. The language used is genuinely disturbing. Not that they should be advised, or encouraged, or supported to avoid alcohol, but "prevented" from drinking. And with absolutely no accounting for childbearing intent, relationship status, nothing. As you've pointed out, it's into Gilead territory.

The British Pregnancy Advisory came out swinging in response, fair play to them - https://www.bpas.org/about-our-charity/press-office/press-releases/bpas-comment-on-the-world-health-organization-s-draft-global-alcohol-action-plan-2022-2030/

zom

Faith wrote: »

This is the news doing the rounds over the last 24 hours

There is even one comment slashing WHO as fundamentals and agreeing with Trump about de-funding them. You dont need much to turn from good to bad nowdays

Faith

I got my first period at 11 and my mum went into menopause at 55. Assuming I follow in her footsteps, I have another 21 years of "childbearing ability" on top of the previous 23 years. A male baby born right now in the USA would be able to legally drink before I would, if female fertility was a exclusion criteria from being able to consume alcohol.

Dial Hard wrote: »

The British Pregnancy Advisory came out swinging in response, fair play to them - https://www.bpas.org/about-our-charity/press-office/press-releases/bpas-comment-on-the-world-health-organization-s-draft-global-alcohol-action-plan-2022-2030/

I must admit, I'm not a fan of this response because I've worked up close and personally with people with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum disorders and the damage that alcohol can cause a foetus is horrific. That being said, people should be educated about the harm of alcohol during pregnancy, not banned from drinking before they even conceive!

zom

As far as I know this is "recommendation" from WHO not a national law and from what I see on internet there is no law even about pregnant women drinking - either in Ireland or USA. So no worries you can get bottle of gin before going to hospital as encouragement for labor

Pauliedragon

A bit of an odd report alright. One thing that struck me is no mention of men. Drinking booze too much has a massive effect on men's ability to procreate.

R.D. aka MR.D

I work in a general area where we interact with international organisations. One thing that is constant is that a lot of policy making at this level is not aimed at well developed nations like Ireland/Europe where women have more equality (although sometimes it doesn't feel like it, we're all very lucky to have been born here). So, when I read this, that is immediately what I thought. Statements that were possibly composed without even thinking how this would sound to people like us.

It is so paternalistic and belittling of women but shows how far feminism has to go and how important a diverse range of voices, seats at the table are.

ancapailldorcha

Pauliedragon wrote: »

A bit of an odd report alright. One thing that struck me is no mention of men. Drinking booze too much has a massive effect on men's ability to procreate.

Surely if a man is drinking heavily then there'll be no baby to worry about. Carrying the child to term is the mother's responsility though that's not to say that I agree at all with this WHO statement.

jimmycrackcorm

Methinks the WHO think that the handmaid series is actually a factual documentary instead of fiction.

I see this as some terrible cack handed phrasing, and nothing else.
They've been trying to prevent adults from smoking for decades now and it's still completely legal to take up and continue.
They really could have thought better of "women of childbearing age" and phrased it "women who intend to conceive" instead. But they don't suggest these women be banned from drinking alcohol by law, but discouraged by means of education and awareness.
They really, really should have read their own wording more carefully before releasing this one to be fair.

Dial Hard

zom wrote: »

As far as I know this is "recommendation" from WHO not a national law and from what I see on internet there is no law even about pregnant women drinking - either in Ireland or USA. So no worries you can get bottle of gin before going to hospital as encouragement for labor

That's not really the point, though. Words matter, and by releasing a report like this, the WHO is essentially validating attitudes to women that are at best paternalistic and at worst, downright controlling. For me, it's made even worse by the fact that the WHO has one of the biggest platforms in the world right now because of Covid. There's every chance that this will land as an edict rather than a recommendation in many quarters.

And even as a recommendation, it's an appallingly cack-handed one. Like most of the women on this forum I have absolutely no intention of ever having children and take active steps to avoid it. Why should any of us be "prevented" from drinking just because we're biologically capable of reproducing???

It's the complete and utter lack of acknowledgement of any agency whatsoever in "women of childbearing age" that really galls me about this.

shesty

I read this yesterday and while I appreciate that it is simply a statement, and also that the effects of excessive alcohol in pregnancy are just ..awful...AND that we have a societal problem in this country with alcohol...I found that statement fairly insulting.I have 3 kids and I am 100% finished but I am still of child-bearing age.Conceivably this is saying I should either wait til I am menopausal, or I should justify my plans for having no more kids to some randomner, before I should be allowed able to enjoy a drink or two.Neither of which is the business of anybody out there, except me.

Veey badly done by the WHO, even if the intent is well-meaning.

rainbowtrout

Deleted User wrote: »

I see this as some terrible cack handed phrasing, and nothing else.
They've been trying to prevent adults from smoking for decades now and it's still completely legal to take up and continue.
They really could have thought better of "women of childbearing age" and phrased it "women who intend to conceive" instead. But they don't suggest these women be banned from drinking alcohol by law, but discouraged by means of education and awareness.
They really, really should have read their own wording more carefully before releasing this one to be fair.

Perhaps. That's the most positive spin that could possibly be put on it. But it wasn't just like someone typed it up in an office and it was sent out before someone checked over it. There was probably a committee that came up with this report and recommendations. Several people probably had an input into the report and nobody flagged this and said 'you know the word preventing is not really suitable here'

R.D. aka MR.D

Short opinion piece from the Guardian on it:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/19/its-not-our-health-that-concerns-you-guys-its-women-having-fun

Touches on a lot of things said here already!