Fact Sheet - Alcohol & Pregnancy

 

• Any alcohol use during pregnancy, even "social drinking," can put offspring at risk for learning and behavioral problems during adolescence.

• In a 1992 survey of alcohol drinkers between the ages 18 to 24 years old who failed to complete high school, nearly 60% began to drink before age 16.

• Heavy, long-term alcohol consumption is the leading cause of illness and death from liver disease in the United Sates. [2000 report]

 

• Heavy drinking by youths has been linked to physical fights, destruction of property, high-risk sexual behavior, other criminal activity, as well as poor academic and employment outcomes.

• Alcohol can damage a developing human at any stage of pregnancy. Damage can occur in the earliest weeks of pregnancy, even before a woman knows that she is pregnant.

• Data suggests that rates of dangerous drinking patterns (such as binge drinking and drinking seven or more drinks per week) among both pregnant women and non-pregnant women of childbearing age have not declined in recent years.

 

• Alcohol use during pregnancy is a leading preventable cause of birth defects.

 

• According to the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse conducted from 1999 to 2000, 14% of pregnant women ages 26 and older in the U.S. reported use of alcohol during the 30-day period prior to the survey.

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