# Pregnant Smokers!!! You make me sick!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 18, 2006, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-smokers-you-make-me-sick/340480 "2006-01-18T05:39:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c2a13f/32.png) [@pace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pace)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-smokers-you-make-me-sick/340480/1 "2006-01-18T05:39:43Z")
i made a quick stop at Walmart and noticed a VERY pregnant woman (6 mos or so) waiting outside the front entrance smoking, SUCKING in that nicotine like there was no tomorrow! I felt like telling her what she MUST already know and what others have probably have told her: smoking is hazardous to your health, but particularly YOUR INFANT’S HEALTH!!! YOU FUCK’N IDIOT!!! i forced myself to turn away as I walked passed her, and did my best to distract myself in the Paint dept (oh yeah, woo hoo!). Then to my horror, after nearly 1/2 hr later, as i’m walking thru the exit, that woman is still there, STILL SMOKING!!! Ohh man! Police should arrest women who are openly and publicly doing something to harm their unborn child!!! I can imagine her breastfeeding her tiny-premature-lung deficient baby and still smoking!!! Don’t infants go through nicotine withdrawal, too!!! ---
**Author:** ![AFAIKnow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a6a055/32.png) [@AFAIKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AFAIKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-smokers-you-make-me-sick/340480/2 "2006-01-18T05:49:02Z")
> [@pace](#): > > Don’t infants go through nicotine withdrawal, too!!! I have heard that the stress of trying to quit can be more harmful to the baby than smoking. Of course a smoking pregnant woman told me that, so take it as you will. ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-smokers-you-make-me-sick/340480/3 "2006-01-18T05:50:15Z")
I think you should take up smoking and then try quitting. That may shave a few exclamation points off of you. ---
**Author:** ![pace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c2a13f/32.png) [@pace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pace)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-smokers-you-make-me-sick/340480/4 "2006-01-18T05:57:57Z")
> [@Hung Mung](#): > > I think you should take up smoking and then try quitting. That may shave a few exclamation points off of you. Why would I WANT to take up smoking knowing that it’s addictive? More importantly why would any FUCK’N SELFISH BITCH get pregnant knowing the risks to her unborn child??? oh by-the-FUCK’N-way —\> !!! sweet dreams 🙂 pace ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-smokers-you-make-me-sick/340480/5 "2006-01-18T06:33:42Z")
What if she was having a smoke to calm herself while waiting for her ride to show up to get her to an abortion clinic? Who are you to judge? It’s her body, she decides. None of your damn business. Maybe she would appreciate a little less holier-than-thou judgement and more rum. Anyway, there is a woman that works in my building that is pregnant and loves to talk about how it’s going and what she and her boyfriend will do to give the kid a great life. Of course, I hear about this outside while we’re smoking. I’ve pointed out in not so subtle fashion the irony of the Marlboro queen giving the kid a head start in life, but subtleness is lost. Sure, she smokes, but the underlying problem is that she’s a fucking idiot. And the only cure for that level of idiocy is death. But with the push for smokers to quit to prolong health, all we’re doing is trying to keep her dumb ass alive long enough to foist her offspring on the rest of us. Some of you may remember that moment when you just gave up on humanity. Mine was about 3 days ago. It’s liberating, really. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-smokers-you-make-me-sick/340480/6 "2006-01-18T06:52:54Z")
Life is too short to waste time getting upset about the idiots you come across. But I’d shake my head sadly at the woman described in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-smokers-you-make-me-sick/340480/7 "2006-01-18T07:07:44Z")
Ah, smoking isn’t all that hazardous to the baby. Smokers do have a higher rate of miscarriage but that’s in the first 3 months. Anyway maybe she’s not pregnant, maybe she’s got a growth. Maybe her doctor said six to eight cigarettes a day aren’t a big concern and you caught her on two of the six. Anyway it isn’t any of your business. Here is something that amused me from a Good Housekeeping guide to pregnancy and baby care from the late '40s/early '50s. Things it’s okay to do while pregnant: smoke in moderation, no problem. Drink in moderation, no problem. Things it’s not okay to do while pregnant: swimming, vigorous exercise, driving. Yes; driving. As in: a car. This was the manual in force during the years that the baby boom was going on. Miraculously, the human race not only survived, but increased. ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-smokers-you-make-me-sick/340480/8 "2006-01-18T07:27:45Z")
Replace “smoking” with “drinking alcohol” and I bet my bottom dollar there’d be no one defending the pregnant woman in here. Both are addictions. Both are well known to cause serious defects in the developing fetus. Both are something that a woman should quit before becoming pregnant, if she truly cares for the health of the child. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-smokers-you-make-me-sick/340480/9 "2006-01-18T07:35:55Z")
I’ve said this before, but my high school best friend’s mother had smoked while she was pregnant with her. She was simply unable to quit. As a result, my friend had a messed up back, poor vision that required two surgeries (one as a child where she almost went blind), a really small frame, learning disabilities, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-smokers-you-make-me-sick/340480/10 "2006-01-18T07:44:39Z")
> [@Amazon Floozy Goddess](#): > > Replace “smoking” with “drinking alcohol” and I bet my bottom dollar there’d be no one defending the pregnant woman in here. I would – if it was just a single glass of beer, with no indication the woman intended to get off her face. No harm in it. Smoking or boozing through a pregnancy, though-- Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![comrade33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@comrade33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/comrade33)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-smokers-you-make-me-sick/340480/11 "2006-01-18T08:09:02Z")
you know, i agree with the op. to a point, that is. i quit heroin. cold turkey. i quit mailining coke. cold turkey. i can’t quit smoking. i’ve tried a lot of things, and i can’t quit. so FUCK YOU! cite (cause i know you dopers whack off whenever you get to type that oh so satisfying phrase “cite!”, and i don’t want to give you the satisfaction) [http://www.lycaeum.org/drugwar/hening.html](http://www.lycaeum.org/drugwar/hening.html) so what are you going to do? tell me i’m a liar? i don’t care, i lived it, i know it, i’m living it still. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-smokers-you-make-me-sick/340480/12 "2006-01-18T08:23:07Z")
Not much point in complaining about what women do when pregnant. It’s their body and they can do whatever the hell they want. It’s only after they’re not pregnant that suddenly, it’s the man’s child and he must pay for it. It’s society’s child and they must pay me welfare. It’s America’s child and they must support it forever even though I snuck over the border illegally. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-smokers-you-make-me-sick/340480/13 "2006-01-18T08:23:24Z")
> [@Hilarity N. Suze](#): > > Ah, smoking isn’t all that hazardous to the baby. Smokers do have a higher rate of miscarriage but that’s in the first 3 months. Anyway maybe she’s not pregnant, maybe she’s got a growth. Maybe her doctor said six to eight cigarettes a day aren’t a big concern and you caught her on two of the six. Anyway it isn’t any of your business. I agree that it’s none of his business, but smoking can also cause low birthweight babies, premature birth, abnormalities such as a cleft palate, and possibly asthma in the child later in life. I have heard of people, though, whose doctors told them to cut back gradually as much as possible instead of focusing on quitting completely because of the stress involved and because the risks decrease the fewer cigarettes are smoked. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-smokers-you-make-me-sick/340480/14 "2006-01-18T08:29:40Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I’ve said this before, but my high school best friend’s mother had smoked while she was pregnant with her. She was simply unable to quit. As a result, my friend had a messed up back, poor vision that required two surgeries (one as a child where she almost went blind), a really small frame, learning disabilities, etc. As badly as I feel for your friend, and as much as I think it’s bad to smoke while pregnant, you have no way of knowing that her problems were caused by her mother’s smoking. ---
**Author:** ![Obsidian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/51bf81/32.png) [@Obsidian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obsidian)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-smokers-you-make-me-sick/340480/15 "2006-01-18T09:54:38Z")
My grandmother’s doctor lectured her for stopping smoking cold turkey just because she was pregnant. He told her she was stressing her system, and just being neurotic. (She had read one of the early smoking=cancer studies and thought, this can’t be good for my baby). She very much enjoyed when studies proved her instinct right-- though she used to joke with my mom (who was 12lbs at birth) that maybe a few pounds of that birth weight would have been a good thing. Do me a favor, though. Don’t ever express your derision to said smoking pregnant woman’s face. I had an coworker in college who had a woman come up to her while she was out a smoke break and say, “Don’t you know how bad those are for your baby?” To the mortification of them both my coworker was just fat, and wearing an unflattering empire-waisted dress. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-smokers-you-make-me-sick/340480/16 "2006-01-18T10:44:56Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I’ve said this before, but my high school best friend’s mother had smoked while she was pregnant with her. She was simply unable to quit. As a result, my friend had a messed up back, poor vision that required two surgeries (one as a child where she almost went blind), a really small frame, learning disabilities, etc. And they attributed that to smoking? Funny, but all I’ve ever heard is that you get a lower birth rate. I smoked through my pregnancy and Kid Kalhoun was a bit small, but fine. No birth defects. ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-smokers-you-make-me-sick/340480/17 "2006-01-18T11:00:05Z")
> [@Amazon Floozy Goddess](#): > > Replace “smoking” with “drinking alcohol” and I bet my bottom dollar there’d be no one defending the pregnant woman in here. Hand over your bottom dollar then, please. Pregnant woman drinking a glass of red at dinner. Not a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-smokers-you-make-me-sick/340480/18 "2006-01-18T11:19:10Z")
> [@pace](#): > > More importantly why would any FUCK’N SELFISH BITCH get pregnant knowing the risks to her unborn child??? First of all, how do you know she _wanted_ or _planned_ to get pregnant? Maybe it was an accident. Maybe she was raped. Maybe she feels abortion is murder and that’s why she didn’t get one and she’s miserably unhappy having an unwanted child. Also - she’s an _addict_. It _doesn’t matter_ that she knows it’s bad for her and bad for the baby - she _can’t quit_. Certainly not with a snap of the fingers. Or she’s quit and restarted, quit and restarted, quit and restarted. Or maybe she really is some thoughtless, selfish bitch - but the point is, you don’t know and can’t know what’s up with a stranger. Also - all you folks talking about dire consequences for the baby: you DO realize that not all of us who are offspring of smoking-during-pregnancy mothers are drooling deformed idiots sitting in a corner twitching and gibbering, yes? Some of us are pretty normal folks. ---
**Author:** ![Corrvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bbce88/32.png) [@Corrvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corrvin)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-smokers-you-make-me-sick/340480/19 "2006-01-18T11:39:15Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > I smoked through my pregnancy and Kid Kalhoun was a bit small, but fine. No birth defects. After a pregnancy as a smoker, my (former) sis in law delivered a 10 pound 9 ounce baby and exclaimed, “Thank goodness I smoked the whole time!” As **Obsidian** pointed out, the lady might just be carrying a bit of extra cheesecake on the tummy, not a blessed event-- my own mom at six months was hardly noticeable, and I could probably pass for somewhere in that trimester myself, given a pair of jeans two sizes too small and an entirely unflattering shirt. So, shall we mosey along to “women who might be mistaken for pregnant ought not to smoke” or issue signs that say “I’m not preggers, unless Sara Lee knocked me up with her delicious cheesecake bites” or just carry on with the original pitting? Corr who would run off for a passionate affair with Sara Lee anyday ---
**Author:** ![Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eada6e/32.png) [@Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_You_Big_Red_Fire_Engine)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2006, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-smokers-you-make-me-sick/340480/20 "2006-01-18T12:22:54Z")
My drug addict sister who has smoked for almost ten years, just got pregnant. She is very weak minded and prone to many addictions. Before she found out she boozed 3 or more times a week, smoked a ridiculous amount and was off her head on speed half the time. She stole from her family. She found out she was pregnant. She stopped. No alcohol, no smoking, no grass, no speed, no whatever else. All it takes is motivation. And if having a baby isn’t motivation enough for someone, then you deserve everything you get. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pregnant-smokers-you-make-me-sick/340480.md?page=2)