Women who drink alcohol during pregnancy may be guilty of criminal offence

Legal test case claims that a brain damaged six-year-old whose mother drank while pregnant is a victim of crime.

13:36 03 February 2014

A new legal test case has revealed that a six-year-old who suffered brain damage after being exposed to alcohol in the womb is the victim of crime. 

 

The case stated that her mother “poisoned” her by drinking while pregnant despite being warmed of the risks. The case has been brought before the Court of Appeal by a council in north west England. 

 

If successful, it could mean that women who harm their babies by drinking alcohol during pregnancy could be found guilty of criminal offences. 

 

Neil Sugarman, a managing partner at GLP Solicitors, said: 'It’s thought there was an argument that the child had been damaged by being the victim of a crime - the crime being the birth mother carrying on drinking knowing that it could damage the child.'

 

Dr Neil Aiton, a paediatrician at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: ‘If it is a choice between a drink, a smoke or a spliff then ‘don’t drink’, would be my recommendation.

 

‘We have firm evidence that drinking alcohol regularly is damaging.

 

'Cigarettes cause babies to be born a bit on the smaller side. There is other evidence but it is minor compared to the long-term neurological and psychological damage that alcohol causes to the nervous system.’