(Mirror Daily, United States) – The latest CDC recommendations for women provoked controversy as the institution urged women between the ages of 18 and 35 to stop drinking altogether if they ever want to get pregnant and give birth to a healthy baby.

While drinking during pregnancy is the worst thing that an expectant mother could do, the CDC alcohol recommendations for women provoked controversy because the targeted audience of the message were not just pregnant women, but all women that are fertile and could, at a moment in their life, have a baby.

According to the CDC, there are millions of women (3.3 million to be more exact) that are not using birth control but are actively drinking and having sexual relations. Also, 3 out of 4 women don’t stop drinking alcoholic beverages after giving up on birth control and actively trying to get pregnant.

Women that drink during their pregnancy expose their children to a wide range of fetal disorders that could further develop into intellectual, physical and behavioral disabilities. The larger the amounts of alcoholic beverages consumed are, the bigger the health risks for the future babies. There are no safe quantities, though. Any amount of alcohol can cause serious fetal damages.

Alcohol can cause permanent damage to the fetus before the woman realizes that she is pregnant. That is why the CDC urges the women that are not using birth control to reconsider their drinking habits.

It usually takes women four to six weeks to realize that they are pregnant. During this time, the fetus develops significantly. Any alcohol intake from the mother’s part can cause permanent physical or neurological damage to the future baby.

The main deputy director of the CDC, Anne Schuchat stated that more than half of the pregnancies in the Unites States in the present are unplanned. That means that more than half of the future babies are being exposed to alcoholic beverages that could do them a lot of harm.

The other half, the women that are actually trying to get pregnant and succeed continue to drink until they find out that they are going to have a baby. Schuchat urges women not to take that risk and think twice before ordering an alcoholic drink when they go out.

But the new CDC alcohol recommendations for women provoked controversy because, according to Schuchat, the only women that are allowed to drink are the women using birth control. The problem with the statistics provided by the CDC director is that they only included women registered at a doctor’s office. But among those 3.3 million there are a lot of women who use condoms or are sterile or have sterile partners.

The CDC is ignoring the unspoken rule of not saying no to a great number of people. When you do that, they will end up doing it just to spite you.

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