The legal implications of abuse of the unborn foetus

This article looks at the use of psychoactive drugs by pregnant women and the effects of these on the foetus. Firstly it discusses the historical awareness of alcohol related birth defects, and then the symptoms of foetal alcohol syndrome. There is also the condition known as foetal alcohol effects--a milder version of foetal alcohol syndrome--exhibited by children of alcohol abusing mothers. Secondly, various drugs, both legal and illegal, over the counter and prescription drugs, and their effects on the foetus are examined. Thirdly, the moral, ethical and legal problems facing the health care worker when dealing with a pregnant women who will not or cannot stop using a potentially harmful chemical, are probed in terms of the South African Child Care Act 74 of 1983. Finally a plea is made for more research in this area, and also that coercive treatment and commital procedures should only be applied when all other methods for treatment have failed.