POLL | Should women be arrested for drinking alcohol while pregnant?

Social development deputy minister Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu wants parliament in the near future to ensure women who drink alcohol during pregnancy are criminally charged.

Speaking ahead of foetal alcohol syndrome day on Saturday, Bogopane-Zulu said she would push a proposal for women who drink alcohol while pregnant to be charged with child abuse after parliament finalises the Children's Act amendment.

Bogopane-Zulu argued that expectant mothers drinking alcohol cause harm to unborn babies’ development and which is no different from those physically abusing children.  

“Women who drink alcohol while they are pregnant must be charged for child abuse. The sad thing is that these women have these children with FASD [foetal alcohol syndrome disorder] and then they leave them with the elderly to take care of them.

"South Africans have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, where binge-drinking has become the norm among youngsters,” she said. 

It is not illegal for pregnant women to drink alcohol in South Africa.

Bogopane-Zulu in an interview on eNCA described the syndrome as “children who are born drunk”, saying some children suffered from physical disabilities and struggled academically. 

“It is a crime. We have spent a lot of money raising awareness but when we engage with some of the pregnant women about the syndrome they respond rudely saying  ‘it is my child so how is it your business’.” 

Speaking to TimesLIVE, National Liquor Traders convener Lucky Ntimane described the syndrome as a “monster” that can be prevented. 

“One of the basic principles of responsible trading for liquor traders, more especially taverns, is that liquor should not be sold to (visibly) pregnant women,” said Ntimane.

“While we acknowledge that alcohol abuse is an issue that needs to be tackled head-on, when it comes to women drinking alcohol while pregnant we take a stance that any amount of alcohol is bad for consumption.”

Ntimane said he did not believe that policing or threatening imprisonment to deal with societal ills was a solution. 

“We need to seize ourselves with understanding the root causes that give rise to women who choose to drink alcohol to the health detriment of the unborn child.”