Drinking while pregnant may be made a crime

Drinking during pregnancy could become a criminal offence, women’s charities have said.

A council in the north-west of England is seeking criminal injuries compensation for a six-year-old girl with “growth retardation” caused by her mother’s alcohol consumption during pregnancy.

If Britain’s Court of Appeal agrees that the woman committed a crime, pregnant women’s behaviour could be criminalised, said Birthrights, a pregnancy and childbirth advocacy group, and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service.