Family life: Guilt will not stop women smoking

Pregnant women should not be forced to give up smoking, according to one expert, who said that the decision is one that has to be made by the mother rather than other members of family life.

Janet Fyle, professional policy advisor for the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), said that women should be given all the information they need to make an informed choice about whether they want to give up smoking or not.

"If you think about the fact that smoking is an addiction, and when people who deal with addiction work with addicts, you don't tell addicts to give up their drugs for somebody else. They have to do it for themselves," she said.

The expert added that making women feel guilty to get them to take part in smoking cessation schemes is not the best way to go about it.

In other news, the Karolinska Institute recently stated that newborns of women who smoked during pregnancy show signs of circulatory dysfunction.

Posted by Libby Ward

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Date Posted: 27/01/2010

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