{"id":1141,"date":"2007-01-23T09:13:00","date_gmt":"2007-01-23T15:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/01\/lawmaker-proposes-criminal-penalties-for-giving-birth-to-a-child-who-has-fetal-alcohol-syndrome\/"},"modified":"2007-01-23T09:13:00","modified_gmt":"2007-01-23T15:13:00","slug":"lawmaker-proposes-criminal-penalties-for-giving-birth-to-a-child-who-has-fetal-alcohol-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/01\/lawmaker-proposes-criminal-penalties-for-giving-birth-to-a-child-who-has-fetal-alcohol-syndrome\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmaker proposes criminal penalties for giving birth to a child who has Fetal Alcohol Syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Rep. Mary Helen Garcia<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, wants to make it a crime to give birth to a child who has Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

She has introduced House Bill 141<\/a>, which would make such an occurrence a misdemeanor, unless the child dies, in which case it would be a second-degree felony. Misdemeanors carry a prison term of six months to one year. Second-degree felonies are punishable by a maximum of nine years in prison.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

FAS, according to the Centers for Disease Control<\/a>, is \u201cone of the leading known, preventable causes of mental retardation and birth defects.\u201d Studies have shown that women who drink during pregnancy can give birth to children with permanent physical and mental disabilities that include abnormal facial features, growth deficiencies and central nervous system problems.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Garcia said the proposal came from two local pediatricians who wanted to help address the problem. In New Mexico<\/st1:state>, approximately one of every 1,000 children is born with FAS, according to the University<\/st1:placetype> of New Mexico<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>\u2019s Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Prevention Project<\/a>. Most mothers of children with FAS had their first child as a teen.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The bill would require a clinical diagnosis of FAS from a physician. It does not include as a crime giving birth to a child with what are called fetal alcohol spectrum disorders \u2013 conditions that meet some, but not all, of the criteria for a clinical diagnosis of FAS.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Garcia said her goal is to discourage women from drinking when they are pregnant and said having such \u201cfear-based language\u201d in the law might serve as a deterrent. As a former public school principal, Garcia said he has worked closely with children who have FAS.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIt places a tremendous burden on the family and the educational system,\u201d she said. \u201cIt crosses over all social and economic lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Legislation similar to Garcia\u2019s has been proposed in several states in recent years, but has been met with stiff opposition and found little success. Opponents have argued that prevention is the best avenue and that criminal penalties would discourage pregnant mothers from getting help for alcoholism or seeking prenatal care.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Such proposals touch on a number of hot-button topics, including the rights of fetuses and laws that target only one gender.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Jerome Romero, director of the FAS prevention program at UNM, said better education and treatment programs are the best ways to combat the problem. He reiterated the argument that the threat of criminal penalties would discourage pregnant mothers from seeking prenatal care, which he said is just as important as not drinking during pregnancy.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cEducation is the key for everything,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a hard one, I know. You want to try to do everything to help those kids\u201d but, if there are penalties, women \u201care not going to get help because they\u2019re afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Romero said the focus should be on educating teens about the dangers of drinking while they\u2019re pregnant and increasing funding for treatment centers for pregnant women \u2013 clinics where they can also bring their other children to make it easier for them to seek prenatal care.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

His office is already working in schools throughout New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> through what it calls the GRADS program. He said the program has seen success at O\u00f1ate and San Andres high schools in Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, and has also been active in Gadsden and Santa Teresa high schools in the south county.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Garcia said better education and treatment are important, but pregnant mothers should also be held accountable for their actions.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a matter of responsibility and choices,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The bill has been assigned to the Consumer and Public Affairs Committee. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rep. Mary Helen Garcia, D-Las Cruces, wants to make it a crime to give birth to a child who has Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. She has introduced House Bill 141, which would make such an occurrence a misdemeanor, unless the child dies, in which case it would be a second-degree felony. Misdemeanors carry a prison term […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}