The concept of crack babies came into life in the period between the year 1980 and 1990. Crack babies are children who were exposed to crack while they were foetuses. This means that their mothers used to smoke cocaine while they were pregnant. These types of children were most commonly found in the United States during a period that is popularly referred to as the crack epidemic period. Initial reports on crack babies indicated that these types of children were prone to severe physical, emotional, and mental disability. As a result of this, a majority of the people living in the United States were concerned about the increasing number of crack babies. People feared that the existence of a large number of crack babies is likely to put a strain on social services, as well as the society in general. This paper will discuss the various ethical issues in health care pertaining to crack babies.
Upon conducting subsequent research, it was established that the findings of the initial reports were not accurate. This is because the scientists had used a poor sample size when carrying out the initial research. The sample size was poor because it was small, and it was not representing the total population of crack babies living in the United States. Subsequent researches indicate that not each and every child that was exposed to crack while still in the uterus is likely to suffer from a disability. It was also established that prenatal cocaine exposure does not necessarily direct long term effects on the growth, language or development of a child. However, it is worth noting the prenatal cocaine exposure brings about certain negative conditions such as; attention deficit disorder, birth defects, and premature birth. It is said that the impact of prenatal cocaine exposure has close similarities with that of tobacco, but it is less ruthless to that of alcohol. One of the key challenges that researchers experience when studying crack babies is that prenatal cocaine exposure does not occur in isolation. This is because a child may be exposed to cocaine among other drugs or various forms of child abuse.
The initial research on crack babies had a negative effect on health care practices in the United States. This is because most of the nurses, social workers, and physicians did not take time to properly diagnose a child after birth. The majority of the health care workers used to attribute almost each and every condition that a crack baby was suffering from to prenatal cocaine exposure. This brought about a situation whereby there was a rise in the overall infant mortality. During this particular period, most of the children were dying out of conditions which were very treatable. The health care workers did not put adequate time to establish the cause of a condition whenever a child was born of a mother who was abusing cocaine. Some of the conditions which the children were suffering from emanated from poor nutrition, the withdrawal symptoms which the mother, and different ecological factors. Examples of such conditions include the following; small head circumference, low birth weight, diarrhoea, gastrointestinal problems, irritability, and respiratory problems among others.
There were various myths that were associated with crack babies. In some instances, these myths had a negative impact on crack babies. One of the myths that were widely perpetuated is that children who experienced prenatal cocaine exposure are likely to suffer from addiction to cocaine. The perpetuation of this myth made a lot of pregnant women who had, in one way or another; subject their children to prenatal cocaine exposure to result in abortion. This was largely because most of the pregnant women who were subjecting their children to prenatal cocaine exposure were addicts of cocaine. As a cocaine addict, the majority of them did not like the type of life that they were living, and they did not want their children to experience the same. Some of them were of the opinion that if they brought crack children into life, they would be subjecting them to unwarranted miseries. Moreover, some of them felt that they were not ready for what their children suffer due to a condition that created by themselves. They felt that watching them suffer would make them resent themselves.
Over the years, there has been a significant decline in the number of women who are abusing drugs during pregnancy. However, this does not mean that there are no women who are abusing drugs during pregnancy. Despite the significant decline in the total population of women who are abusing drugs during pregnancy, there are still a significant number of women who are exposing their children to drugs during pregnancy. As a result of this, there are various children's rights organisations that are advocating for the government to put in place strict laws against prenatal drug exposure. The development of a regulation will ensure that a majority of the children will be born healthy.
References
Dickenson, D. (2002). Ethical Issues in Maternal-Fetal Medicine. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Ehrenreich, N. (2008). The Reproductive Rights Reader: Law, Medicine, and the Construction of Motherhood. New York: New York University Press.
Humphries, D. (2011). Crack Mothers: Pregnancy, Drugs and the Media. New York: Ohio State University Press.
Larsen, L. J., & Runzheimer, J. (2011). Medical Ethics For Dummies. Indiana: Wiley Publishing.
Levine, H. G., & Reinarman, C. (London). Crack in America: Demon Drugs and Social Justice. 1998: University of California Press.
