Do Pregnant Women Really Lie about Smoking?
If I got pregnant, and skipped off to my first antenatal appointment, and was asked if I smoked, I’d say no. I’d then expect to be left alone to take folic acid and play Mozart to my stomach. I would not expect some doctor to whip out a breathalyser to check I’m not lying. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence has suggested exactly that. They want pregnant women to be given breath tests to check they’re not smoking, because apparently a woman’s own testimony is not enough. The assumption that mothers-to-be lie is slightly sinister and deeply patronising. There’s stuff in feminist literature that explains why and how women’s evidence is given lower authority than it should be (even, apparently, in relation to statements concerning their own bodies and lives) but I won’t go into that. Instead I’d suggest the NHS doesn’t stop at smoking. Weekly alcohol breath tests and blood tests for class A drugs are other options for those authority-loving doctors. You just can’t trust women n
