your assignment is to get responses from one adult and also provide your own opinion for the

items listed below. In order to obtain more varied responses, talk to someone outside your own
family.
Read them the following and report their responses.
Most believe if a couple carries out a pregnancy to full term, they acquire the duty to
protect the fetus.
1. If they participate in any activity during the pregnancy (she drinks alcohol, takes drugs,
or he frequently smokes around her), they know could affect the health of the fetus, should
they be held accountable? Why or why not?

 (Write a 75+ word summary of their response)

  I had facetimed my friend to ask her what she thought of this issue and she had said, that
both the mother and father should be held accountable because they knew that the action would
be harmful, and they have a moral obligation as parents to protect that child. However, a
considering factor should be whether or not that behavior is consistent or not, for example is one
drink going to harm the baby that much?

(Write a 150+ word response of your thoughts on this)

I do think that parents and pregnant women are under a great moral obligation and are
expected to protect their children from harm and consider the best interests of their child. I think
that women should be held accountable for engaging in behaviors that are harmful to the health
of the baby because an innocent child will likely suffer the permanent consequences of their
mothers’ preventable actions. However, I do understand that this issue like most ethical issues is
much more complex and I do think a large part of the controversy surrounding it ties back to
whether or not an unborn child is considered a person. When the actions the pregnant women are
engaging in are voluntarily and preventable, I think they should be held accountable. However
when it comes to the health of the mother, I think an exception can be made for example in
Angela Carder Ordeal it was unethical to infringe the mother’s autonomy and force her to have a
surgery she did not want that had also put her life at risk.

2. If they are to be held accountable, what should be the consequence of their actions?
Should the consequence (punishment) be applied as soon as their actions are discovered or
only after the child has been born and the effects of their actions can be measured?
 (Write a 75+ word summary of their response)

As far as accountability I think that the guilt of the mother will be the biggest punishment
and consequence of her actions this would be a bigger burden than putting them in jail. I
don’t think that criminalizing the mother is the right thing to do I think that this would be
unethical because addiction is a medical condition that cannot be controlled. They should not
go to jail rather they should be offered help and treatment for their addiction problem. Focus
should be placed on preventative measures including better educating couples about the
severity of this issue.

 (Write a 150+ word response of your thoughts on this)

I think they should be held accountable for harming the child however, when it comes
to what the consequence should be, I am a little hesitant of what that would entail. This is
because I recognize that addiction is disease involving many complex factors that many truly
can’t control without help from other resources. Pregnant addicts may be motivated to stop
but substance is very difficult to overcome, because of this I think that it is important that we
address the real underlying issue which is a lack of proper resources including drug treatment
programs and rehabilitation programs for pregnant addicts and parents. I’m opposed to
criminalizing pregnant women with substance abuse problems because I feel like it will
discourage pregnant women from seeking help due to the fear of being punished for her
addiction and I also believe that it would potentially undermine maternal health. I possible
option could be to drug test the baby after delivery and if the test is positive offer the mother
rehabilitation options and temporarily remove parental custody until further investigation can
be done and until the mother is clean for a certain period of time.