A Teacher Asks if it is Ever All Right to Drink Alcohol During Pregnancy
Miss Melling was a health teacher in a medium-sized high school in the far West. Due to the rapid increase in the number of students who had experienced alcohol-related problems in the past two years, the school administrators wanted all of the health teachers to double the amount of alcohol abuse and alcoholism material they presented to their students. One week while discussing some of the negative effects of alcohol abuse, she told the class that she was going to ask an important question. “Is it ever all right to drink alcohol during pregnancy?” After a heated discussion she turned to the class and said the following “since the evidence is not clear, the absolute best course of action is total abstinence during pregnancy.”