WHO plans to ban women of "child-bearing age" from drinking alcohol
One of the proposals in the WHO's alcohol plan aims to ban women from ages 18 - 50 from drinking alcohol.
In a proposal, the first draft of the World Health Organization's Alcohol plan for 2022 -2030, one of the proposals include that women of child-bearing age should be banned from drinking alcohol.
They emphasise this specific proposal by looking at the three million deaths caused by alcohol, among other factors.
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The organisation says that this plan aims to "boost effective implementation of the global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol as a public health priority and considerably reduce morbidity and mortality due to alcohol use — over and above general morbidity and mortality trends — as well as associated social consequences, and with that to improve the health and wellbeing of populations globally”.
This plan has not been received well by most women, some even stating that it is a form of sexism. With the aims of the aforementioned statement, nothing specific points to women being the primary consumers of alcohol.
They continue in the plan, with plans directly for women:
“appropriate action to prevention of the initiation of drinking among children and adolescents, prevention of drinking among pregnant women and women of child-bearing 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”.
This speaks to all women aged between 18 and 50-years-old.
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Together with diseases caused by or linked to alcohol consumption, alcohol fetal conditions in children are predicted to decrease with the implementation of this plan.
But an alcohol researcher highlights how there needs to be a balance struck between this and the policing of women's bodies.
"These risks need to be balanced with concerns about policing women's bodies and restricting their civil liberties," he shared with the Daily Mail.
Alcohol fetal disorders occur in children whose mothers drink during pregnancy. Symptoms include:
- Distinctive facial features, including small eyes, an exceptionally thin upper lip, a short, upturned nose, and a smooth skin surface between the nose and upper lip.
- Deformities of joints, limbs and fingers.
- Slow physical growth before and after birth.
- Vision difficulties or hearing problems.
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This action plan is said also to strengthen other alcohol policies that have seemed to fail or had minor effects in terms of positive change.
A 2018 study by Stellenbosch University found that in SA women who drank alcohol and smoked during pregnancy had an almost three times higher risk of stillbirth than women who stayed away from these activities.
It is a topic and plan that will probably not last as women will fight for the right to their own actions and their own bodies.
We know that our Keri Miller might not be about having children, but she will fight this ban come rain or shine - inequality!
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