To say that smoking during pregnancy is a dangerous proposition would be an understatement to say the least. In reality, the damage that can occur when the mother is smoking while there is a child in the womb is significant. The variety of problems that a child can face if the mother smokes during pregnancy is voluminous and can even lead to stillborn births. This, of course, begs the question if smoking during pregnancy causes so many problems, why do so many women continue to do so? The answer to this question is that many women today don’t smoke during pregnancy, but many still do. Mercifully, the numbers of people who have quit smoking have drastically increased over the last two decades. Part of the reason women smoked during pregnancy in pervious generations was due to smoking among the population as a whole was heavily addicted to nicotine. In 1964, it is estimated nearly one half the population was smoking.

Smoking During Pregnancy And Its Historical Context

What needs to be understood here is that one cannot look at smoking during pregnancy without looking at smoking through the lens of cigarettes throughout history. At one time, smoking was considered harmless. During World War I, cigarettes were issued to soldiers in the field as a way of reducing anxiety. In the 1940’s, baseball professionals would endorse cigarette products. It would not be until the late 1960’s that the dangers of cigarettes became known, but it would not be for another 30 or so years before the public would eventual realize the seriousness of the negative effects of cigarettes.

Ultimately, the reason that women smoked during pregnancy was due to the fact they were not informed as to the severe hazards smoking would cause a fetus. After all, if a product were labeled a healthy weight loss product (and this is how some brands marketed their cigarettes in the 1950’s) then why would there be a reason to stop? Additionally, by the time the dangers of cigarettes were finally exposed, cigarettes became so ingrained in the culture that people still did not realize the dangers. In a way, the eradication of cigarettes is a slow road mainly because of the long historical presence of cigarettes in the culture combined with the fact that they are a highly addictive product. When a product is highly addictive, it becomes next to impossible to stop using. As such, while the numbers are small, there will still be those who smoke and continue smoking during pregnancy.