Two-thirds of Americans say that pregnant women should not even have one or two drinks in a week
The state of Alaska has announced that, together with university researchers, they will be installing free pregnancy test dispensers in bar bathrooms as part of a pilot program to limit drinking among pregnant women. This is a serious problem in Alaska, which has the highest rate of fetal alcohol syndrom in the country. The question of how much alcohol, if any, a pregnant woman can consume isn't entirely clear-cut. It is widely known that heavy drinking during pregnancy has serious consequences, but it hasn't been proven that having a couple of drinks a week after the first trimester is harmful.
The latest research from YouGov shows that for over two-thirds of Americans (68%) even this small amount of alcohol isn't okay and only 21% of Americans say that it's okay for pregnant women to have a couple of drinks a week. The older you are, the more likely you are to say that the occasional drink is acceptable, but even then most over-65s (59%) still think that alcohol is not okay for pregnant women.
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Among the many things that pregnant women are told to avoid, Americans tend to think that they should avoid hot tubs (44%) and sushi (41%). Only 19% think that it isn't okay for pregnant women to be around cats - due to potential illness contractable from cat faeces - while only 11% think that pregnant women should avoid soft cheeses.
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Alaska is not the only state to offer pregnancy tests in bars. Minnesota has run a similar program for a while, though they charge $3 a test. Only ten locations currently sell the tests in Minnesota, however.
Full poll results can be found here.
Image: Getty