Word: fetus
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...tragedy of FAS is that it is entirely preventable. If a woman, even an alcoholic one, stops drinking before she tries to become pregnant, her fetus will not develop FAS or any alcohol-related birth defects. But pregnancies are not always planned. If a woman does not realize for several weeks that she is pregnant, she may not stop drinking in time to prevent harm to the fetus...
Researchers believe the damage is probably minimal in the first two weeks, but during the rest of the first trimester, when the fetus' organs are forming, the effects may be especially severe. If the drinking continues, additional damage can occur, since the brain develops during all nine months and rapid body growth does not occur until the third trimester. Even after the baby is born, abstinence may be advisable. A study in last week's New England Journal of Medicine suggests that when mothers have one or more drinks a day, their children ingest alcohol in breast milk, which...
...adverse consequences to very light drinking," says Dr. Robert Sokol, head of the federally funded fetal alcohol research center at Wayne State University, in Detroit. "But that doesn't mean they don't exist." Beer, wine and hard liquor do not seem to differ in their impact on the fetus...
Studies conducted in Boston, Atlanta and Scandinavia indicate that at least some of the injuries to the fetus may be corrected in the womb if a mother gives up alcohol before her third trimester. Says Sterling Clarren, professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine: "It's pretty clear if a woman stops drinking in her second trimester, the size and the healthiness of the baby will improve, but there is no evidence that its intelligence will improve." Moreover, even the improvement in appearance may be deceptive. "The babies definitely are bigger and look healthier," says...
That's why state attempts to protect a fetus--or "unborn person," as Missouri now mandates--are really attempts to interfere with women's control over their bodies...