Andrew is eight-years old. He attends a special needs school. He has poor impulse control, a low attention span and an inability to communicate. He’s disruptive in class and finds it hard to make friends.
He is impatient and violent and frequently gets in trouble and puts himself in danger.
Andrew was always a slow developer and did not walk until he was three.
By the time he is 25, it is believed Andrew will have been in and out of prison many times.
But here’s the thing.
Andrew’s special needs were 100 per cent avoidable. Andrew has Foetal Alcohol Syndrome, and he has only one person to blame – his mother.
In the justice system throughout Australia there are literally thousands and thousands of “Andrews.”
One in five women drink while they are pregnant.
And it is these women who might one day find themselves jailed for their selfishness.
A proposal by the Northern Territory Government to jail women who drink during pregnancy is gaining momentum.
The NT Attorney General is currently exploring the antenatal rights of the unborn child.
Attorney-General John Elferink told the ABC’s Lateline last week they were looking to “either prosecute or alternatively restrain [women] from engaging in conduct which harms their unborn child”.
“But that is something we have yet to explore in this jurisdiction forcibly.”
It is estimated up to 3000 babies are born a year suffering from Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. It is referred to as an ‘invisible disability’ as it often goes undetected.
In some cases symptoms are attributed to another known non-genetic condition – autism or ADHD – or even simply blamed on ‘poor parenting’.
Obviously something needs to be done. And someone needs to stand up for the rights of these unborn babies.
But who’s responsibility should it be? Is it up to the government to step in?
Your first gut reaction to this, is probably ‘yes’. If these women aren’t going to prioritise the needs of an unborn child then the government needs to.
But it isn’t that simple, is it?
In researching this article I had a discussion with a good friend – a lawyer and former Federal Government political advisor.
Her most salient point drove home just how knee jerk my initial reaction was.
It’s a social issue, she explained, not a criminal one.
She asked me to think about these women – what about their families, what if the women have other children? “It’s bloody tragic, but who is going to care for them?” she asked.
It seems her view is shared by many experts in the field.
The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education Director Caterina Giorgi told the ABC locking up these women for drinking isn’t the right approach.
“If our aim is to prevent these conditions in the future, if our aim is to minimise the harms that could result from these conditions, then our primary focus should be on supporting both the woman and her child through appropriate treatment options.”
One area that needs to step up to solve the problem is the child protection system.
John Boffa from the People’s Alcohol Action Coalition in Alice Springs told the ABC he does not want to see drinking among pregnant women criminalised but he does want the unborn child to be included in the NT’s Child Protection Act.
“At present the child protection act in the Northern Territory only kicks in once a baby is born and we can’t make referrals in-utero,” he said.
And here the issue thickens, with the rights of the unborn child a key factor in abortion law. It would be murky waters to wade into giving unborn babies total legal rights.
The issue isn’t one just limited to the Northern Territory.
The Australian reported about the increasing problem the West Australian justice system was having with men and women brain damaged by Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. It was described by Chief Justice Wayne Martin as WA’s biggest issue facing the justice system.
And the problem is only increasing.
Obviously the unspoken elephant in the room is the fact this is overwhelmingly an Indigenous Australian issue.
Aboriginal leaders say traditional cultural laws should be used to discipline women who drink while pregnant.
“We need more of the disciplining to be done our way,” chair of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress, Reverend Rronang Garrawurra told the ABC.
It’s a complex and far reaching problem – and the solution is probably less punitive and more social. Less discipline and more education is needed.
More awareness more grass roots community programs to combat alcohol abuse and domestic violence.
And money. Surely that’s desperately needed as well. We will watch and see how these proposed laws pan out – and be sure to keep you updated.
What do you think? Should women who drink while pregnant be jailed?
Top Comments
what happens to women that drink and don't know they are pregnant? Is it then up to someone to determine if they should have known? Seems like there is far too much grey area for this to ever come to fruition.
With regard to Indigenous women drinking during pregnancy, I think the issue is far more complex than mothers being 'selfish'. Yes, it's a tragic issue that needs to be addressed, but jailing women in these circumstances is a Band-Aid solution to a series of much broader social problems.
As it stands at the moment, Indigenous men and women (who represent only 3% of Australia's total population) make up 43% of the prison population in Western Australia and 83% of the prison population in the Northern Territory. Imprisonment rates in Australia increased for Aboriginal women between 2000 and 2010 at a rate of nearly 60% (compared to 22% for non-Aboriginal women).
The idea of imprisoning Indigenous women who drink sounds very much to me like an Intervention-style solution. Change needs to come from within. It would be far more effective for the Government to aid Indigenous communities by providing them with the resources they need to tackle the underlying issues that cause women in Indigenous communities to drink heavily in the first place.
I spent some time earlier this year with an amazing Indigenous man who runs a healing program for men and women in Aboriginal communities around the country. His program focusses on identifying the underlying feelings of shame and rejection that are at the root of many of the social problems that plague Indigenous communities. This program has been incredibly successful in breaking patterns of abuse and incarceration, and in giving men and women in these communities the tools they need to lead healthy, happy and productive lives.
Regarding FAS, I also wanted to mention that it's now understood to run across a spectrum from mild to severe (as a couple of posters have already mentioned). Not every child born with FAS will have the wide set eyes, flat face and so on. There are many more thousands of children who've been exposed to smaller amounts of alcohol during pregnancy who may appear normal and healthy at birth, but who actually have Foetal Alcohol Effects syndrome and will go on to develop learning and behavioural problems which are a result of alcohol exposure in utero.
The National Health and Medical Research Council and the World Health Organisation both advise that it is safest for women not to consume any alcohol during pregnancy. And the fact is that nobody knows if there is a safe amount of alcohol that can be consumed during pregnancy, but what is known is that the amount you drink is the amount the baby drinks and alcohol remains in the baby's system longer than it does in the mother's. So if you have a glass of wine, your baby has a glass of wine too. If you wouldn't give your newborn baby a bottle full of wine, why would you drink even one alcoholic drink during pregnancy?
Anyway, I think there are several dimensions to this issue and not every mother can be lumped in the same category.