The WHO, an arm of the United Nations, has issued a global alcohol action plan recommending that women of child-bearing age and women who are pregnant not consume alcohol.
As Dr. Rebecca Oas, director of research for the Center for Family and Human Rights (C-FAM), points out, it is only a recommendation.
"Some media outlets are framing this as the WHO calling for a ban on drinking by women aged 15 to 49," she begins. "For a bit of context, the WHO has no authority to do that, and it has no authority to make governments do that. And it only mentions pregnancy or reproductive age on one page of a 37-page document."
To be fair, Dr. Oas says there is a positive note to the recommendation against pregnant women consuming alcohol, as it can cause health problems for a preborn child.
"But there is a level of hypocrisy here insomuch as the WHO has been very active in promoting abortion, including medical abortion, which is performed by the use of pills," the researcher points out. "So taken together, the WHO's advice would seem to be that it's perfectly fine and in line with global health standards to poison a child in the womb as long as it's done intentionally and not by accident."
The WHO promotes abortions in Third World countries, where medical care adequate enough to deal with the proven complications arising from the chemical method is scarce.
