Drugs in the womb: college student perceptions of maternal v. fetal rights

A survey of 523 college undergraduates regarding a pregnant woman's culpability for the use of specific drugs during pregnancy indicated that a rank order of the relative safety of the drugs existed in the minds of the respondents. Tobacco, alcohol and aspirin were perceived as similar in their consequences to the fetus, while cocaine was considered to be the most deleterious and Accutane, the least deleterious. Although 75 percent would imprison a pregnant woman who used cocaine, only 16 percent would do so for the use of Accutane, a prescription drug. The 87 percent of the students who believed that the fetus was a child, were more likely to consider the use of the five drugs during pregnancy as a form of child abuse and were also more willing to imprison the "offending" women. It was suggested that drug education programs need to place more emphasis on the potentially deleterious consequences of prescribed medicines to the fetus.