Apparently there are pretty ridiculous restrictions on "women of childbearing potential" using Accutane - it seems unlikely that there is a punishment for certifying the use of birth control and then deliberately not using it, or for taking someone else's Accutane while pregnant, but here is a case of a well-known teratogen where hypothetically someone could decide to use it for prevention of acne, and where the state has at least made an attempt to limit its use by pregnant women.
Obviously, as laid out, my "rules" don't create a bright line: where is the line between alcohol and thalidomide/accutane where the state should intervene? Certainly, I could believe that medical treatments for the health of the mother outweigh any risk to the fetus... the question is, is there ever a case where the state can come in and say "no, stop doing X".
The other case might be illegal, addictive drugs with teratogenic effects: can/should the state put an expecting mother into custody if they are known to be taking crack?
This might be something like state intervention in child-raising, only with an even more onerous line: ie, the state generally defers to parents on how to raise a kid (feed it McDonald's food every day - fine. sit it in front of a TV for 14 hours a day - fine. Lock it in a closet while you go out to party - the state comes in and takes custody), and would similarly defer to a mother on how to treat her own body except in really extreme circumstances...
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winterfish
no subject
Date: 2011-09-28 07:05 pm (UTC)http://www.drugs.com/accutane.html
Apparently there are pretty ridiculous restrictions on "women of childbearing potential" using Accutane - it seems unlikely that there is a punishment for certifying the use of birth control and then deliberately not using it, or for taking someone else's Accutane while pregnant, but here is a case of a well-known teratogen where hypothetically someone could decide to use it for prevention of acne, and where the state has at least made an attempt to limit its use by pregnant women.
Obviously, as laid out, my "rules" don't create a bright line: where is the line between alcohol and thalidomide/accutane where the state should intervene? Certainly, I could believe that medical treatments for the health of the mother outweigh any risk to the fetus... the question is, is there ever a case where the state can come in and say "no, stop doing X".
The other case might be illegal, addictive drugs with teratogenic effects: can/should the state put an expecting mother into custody if they are known to be taking crack?
This might be something like state intervention in child-raising, only with an even more onerous line: ie, the state generally defers to parents on how to raise a kid (feed it McDonald's food every day - fine. sit it in front of a TV for 14 hours a day - fine. Lock it in a closet while you go out to party - the state comes in and takes custody), and would similarly defer to a mother on how to treat her own body except in really extreme circumstances...