Drinking while pregnant could become criminal offence in UK

Two British women’s charities have cautioned ahead of landmark case in the Court of Appeal Wednesday that drinking alcohol when pregnant could become a criminal offense.
If the Court of Appeal rules that the woman in question committed a crime then it paves the way ahead for future criminalization of pregnant women, warned two charities, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (bpas) and Birthrights, the Press Association reports.

In this case a girl who is now six-years old was born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), which causes retarded growth, face abnormalities and intellectual impairment. FAS was diagnosed 252 times in England in 2012 and 2013.

The Upper Tribunal of the Administrative Appeals Chamber ruled that the child was born with FAS as a “direct result” of her mother’s drinking. But in January it was revealed that the local authority had failed in its bid to get compensation on the child’s behalf from the Criminal Injuries Authority (CICA)

Now Lawyers who are representing the local authority will try and prove that the girl’s mother was criminally negligent under the Offences Against the Person’s Act 1861

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