TresSugar

Should Mothers Be Prosecuted For Exposing Their Unborn Babies to Drugs?

Rebecca M Gruber — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:03:34 PDT

Could a glass of wine during pregnancy land you behind bars? It might if you live in Alabama. In this upcoming weekend's New York Times Magazine, Ada Calhoun delves into Alabama's controversial chemical-endangerment laws where mothers who give birth to babies with even a trace of drugs in their bloodstreams are not only ordered into rehab but are criminally prosecuted for putting their newborns in harm's way.

In one case, when a newborn died hours after his premature birth, and mother tested positive for methamphetamine, she was charged with a Class A felony for contributing to the death of her child, with a mandatory sentence of 10 years to life. The laws - which are the harshest in the country - were designed to protect kids from "explosive meth labs," but they are now being applied to expectant mothers, and that's where the controversy comes in. Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists all fear that such prosecutions may just be the tip of the iceberg. In the article, Emma Ketteringham, the director of the National Advocates For Pregnant Women, says:

"It starts with cocaine, and then it’s cigarettes and alcohol. How much alcohol? And when? It’s only a matter of time until it comes to refusing a bed-rest order because you need to work and take care of your other children and then you have a miscarriage. What if you stay at a job where you’re exposed to toxic chemicals, as at a dry cleaner? What if you keep taking your SSRIs during pregnancy? If a woman is told that sex during her pregnancy could be a risk to the fetus, and the woman has sex anyway and miscarries, are you going to prosecute the woman - and the man, too?"

What do you think? Should women be prosecuted for exposing their unborn babies to drugs?

11 Eco-Friendly Cars We Love

Kristy Korcz — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 06:25:19 PDT

Spring is in the air, so let's keep that air smelling fresh, shall we? If you aren't able to use public transportation for your daily commute, and biking is out of the question, these electric, hybrid, and small cars are able to step in when all other earth-friendly options are exhausted. We love them all for various reasons, but mostly it's because they make us feel like we're giving mother earth a little hug every day they're on the road.

Is Six Months of Breastfeeding Unrealisitic?

Rebecca M Gruber — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:56:40 PDT

Breast is best, but is it realistic? The World Health Organization recommends six months of exclusive breastfeeding to ensure a healthy start for newborns and infants. And while some mamas treat that 6-month mark as a goal, a new study suggests it is simply unattainable for many.

According to the small Scottish study - which included 220 face-to-face interviews - nursing is harder than most health care professionals lead new parents to believe, and the current culture of "pressuring" parents to put baby to breast is backfiring. Some women felt that the bonding experience wasn't as strong as they had hoped, while others didn't feel supported once they left the hospital, ultimately leading them to stop nursing sooner. The US breastfeeding rate is up to 14.8 percent - far lower than the 25.5 percent the Centers for Disease Control set as a target, but up 4 percentage points over the past four years. That said, are we unrealistic about our goals for new moms?

Source: Flickr User Raphael Goetter

Tot Gets Tat: Mom Gets Jailtime?

Natasha Dantzig — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:16:34 PST

Tats on tots? Tattoos are a divisive aesthetic on adults; the thought of a child actually getting their sweet lil skin permanently inked is a pretty unpleasant idea, to say the least. Yet that's exactly what 10-year-old Gaquan Napier did with the full support of his mother Chuntera. According to the law in Georgia, where the family lives, it's illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to get tattooed - with or without parental consent, a fact that Napier claims to have been unaware of when she granted her child permission to permanently mark his body.

This story sounds pretty black-and-white - what was she thinking? - until we learn more details of the reason behind the tattoo. Two years ago, Gaquan was with his older brother Malik when he was struck and killed by a teenage driver at the heartbreaking age of 12. When Gaquan went to his mother and asked her permission to get a tattoo in memory of his deceased brother, Napier said, "It made me feel good to know that he wanted his brother on him."

Napier is currently in custody and facing a charge of misdemeanor child cruelty. In several other states, a child getting inked with the parents' permission is perfectly legal, so do you think this mom deserves to serve time for allowing her son to create a memorial to his big brother?

Hold It! That's What One Teacher Is Telling Students

Rebecca M Gruber — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:40:49 PST

How long can your child hold it? If she's in Stephanie Warner's class at a Brooklyn elementary school, let's hope she can hold it for a while!

The fifth-grade teacher has enacted a new policy to keep kids sitting at their desks and out of the bathroom. At the start of each week, the teacher hands out three bathroom passes to each student in the class. The kids then have three windows throughout the day during which they can use the vouchers to visit the restroom. If the tots still have their passes at the end of the week, they can trade them in for small prizes like pencils and erasers. According to one of the students, the teacher started the new program "because some kids just go for fun. They just want to skip class."

Though New York public schools do not have a bathroom limit policy, parents are up in arms complaining that their children's health - bladder infections and more - is at stake. The school's principal has put an end to the program following the uproar, but I want to know - do you agree with the teacher's reasoning behind instituting the policy?

Fighting Words from Anderson Cooper: Are Stay-at-Home Moms Lazy?

Natasha Dantzig — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:20:40 PST

Oh, Anderson. Generally a bastion of solid journalism and insightful commentary, Anderson Cooper seems to have taken a cue from the talk show circuit with one of his recent shows, pitting stay-at-home moms against their work-outside-the-home counterparts.

The show's clearly-for-ratings title - "Are Stay-at-Home Moms Lazy?" - is drawn from the outburst of one of the guest moms, who declares that women who stay at home with their kids use it as "almost an excuse to be lazy." Anderson follows up this evolved comment with an insightful, "You're saying that stay-at-home moms are lazy?!"

The whole point of the show was to discuss a controversial new study claiming that moms who work outside the home are happier than those who stay at home with their lil ones. Surprise, surprise, the guests weren't able to come to any sort of consensus. Understandably, people aren't pleased with the show's topic and especially not with its producers' choice of title, and they are blogging up a storm about it - which is probably exactly the point. Well played, Mr. Cooper. Welcome to daytime TV.

Is it me, or does this whole argument feel a bit dated? Aren't moms over-judging each other like this?

New Hope For Infertile Men as Scientists Grow Sperm Outside Body

Natasha Dantzig — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 03:30:51 PST

Go sperm! We tend to think of infertility mainly as an affliction of the fairer sex, but this is far from the truth: the last 50 years have seen an increase in the problem of male infertility coinciding with a huge decrease in reported sperm counts.

A major breakthrough was made recently as German and Israeli scientists grew mouse sperm outside of the body using just a few cells retrieved from the mouse's testicles. Once created, these sperm samples were tested and found to be genetically and chromosomally sound - meaning they could be used in the conception of baby mice.

Scientists are hopeful that the same techniques used to grow the mouse sperm can be applied to humans, with the life-changing result of previously infertile men being able to biologically father their own offspring.

Check Your Library Book Due Dates or Risk a Visit From the Police

Rebecca M Gruber — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 03:21:00 PST

With all that parents have on their minds, it's no wonder that something eventually falls through the cracks. If you live near Boston, just hope that it's not past-due library books that slip off your to-do list.

According to a mother in Charlton, a few months after she failed to return two of her 5-year-old daughter's library books, she received a surprise knock on the door - from a police sergeant! Once the officer left, the book-borrowing tot burst into tears, thinking her mom was going to be hauled off to jail. Both the mom and police officer said they thought the library's decision to send a law enforcement official to the home went above and beyond what was necessary, but Massachusetts state law does identify late library books as a misdemeanor.

Would the possibility of a visit from the police department make you more diligent about returning books to the library on time?

Where Is He or She Now? An Update on the Great Genderless Baby "Storm" of 2011

Natasha Dantzig — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 07:13:46 PST

Boy or a girl? Generally one of the first questions parents answer about their lil ones, it's the one that Toronto parents Kathy Witterick and David Stocker opted to skip completely when their baby was born nearly one year ago, on New Year's Day. Named Storm, an appropriate moniker for a child that was the subject of more than a little controversy, the baby's parents publicly announced that they would not be revealing Storm's gender in The Toronto Star. Unsurprisingly, the family has faced its share of haters, critics, and detractors over the past year who feel that the family is more than just wacky - that they're doing actual psychological damage by imposing their extreme beliefs on their innocent lil ones.

Today, as Storm's first birthday approaches, the lil one is thriving. With two doting older siblings - including big brother Jazz, whom his parents identify as "gender independent" thanks to his affinity for pink, fairy birthday parties, and dresses - and a community of supportive friends, the family is sticking by their commitment to raise their children with "the freedom to choose who they want to be, unconstrained by social norms about males and females." What do you think? Inspiring trailblazers or irresponsible parents?

Chelsea Clinton Kicks Off a More Public Life on TV

Annie Scudder — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:51:16 PST

Chelsea Clinton sat down with Brian Williams on his nightly Rock Center show to explain why she's leaving behind her "deliberately private life" for a journalism career. But before she got personal last night, Chelsea reported on former-educator Annette Dove, who has committed her life to helping impoverished children in Pine Bluff, Arkansas with hot food, tutoring, and someone to talk to.

After her inaugural "Making a Difference" report, Chelsea went on to discuss why she's putting herself out there for the first time. She said, "For most of my life, I did deliberately lead a private life and inadvertently led a public life." But after her grandmother, Dorothy Rodham, passed away in early November, she decided to change course. Chelsea explained that her grandmother had a core adage in life: that life is not about what happens to you, but about what you do with what happens to you. Chelsea said her grandmother had recently been "challenging me to do more with my life, to lead more of a purposefully public life. That being Chelsea Clinton had happened to me and that I had a responsibility to do something with that asset and opportunity."

See Chelsea's full segment below and tell us whether you're looking forward to more from her.