# Pregnant woman evicted from pub for drinking



## pabboo (Sep 29, 2007)

Did anyone see this??!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/7975353.stm


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## Be Lucky (Mar 22, 2008)

Yes i thought the member of staff was been quite sensible!but then i dont drink!


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## cleg (Jun 27, 2006)

i dont think the member of staff had a right to send her off the premises no, it is upto each individual weather or not they drink while PG, i probably wouldnt drink BUT who on earth has the right to dictate weather i can or not if i did fancy A PINT on a warm afternoon, 

xxx


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## emalia (Feb 7, 2007)

Hi, I read she'd already drunk a pint, ( 2.5-4.5 units ) & she wanted another 1/2 pint,  Just a thought...lets say she wasn't pg and was drunk, staff would have the right to refuse to serve, they'd be classed as being irresponsible, let say she was pg and was drinking excessivly for a pg woman.,.......... ummmm  it's a very tricky area really


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## pabboo (Sep 29, 2007)

I agree, it is a really tricky area.

Yes, she had already had a pint and wanted another half. As so point out, emalia, this could be a lot of units, depending what she was drinking. Certainly another half would have put her above the recommended allowance while pg of 2 units a week. 

DH thinks she should have been asked to leave. I don't drink now I'm pg (except half a champagne glass of sparkly wine last weekend   ) and perhaps there is a duty to protect an unborn child if you see someone drinking above the recommended limit...


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## Orange Smartie (Dec 30, 2007)

Just my twopenneth here.

A pint is over the recommended units for a pregnant woman - around one unit per week according to the latest guidelines and all advice given to me. That's half a pint of standard lager or beer. Also we have no idea of what kind of beer she was drinking - regular, super strength etc. So as someone has already mentioned one pint would have put her over the recommended limit.  

I recently attended an event on fetal alcohol syndrome and the effects of alcohol on the developing embryo/fetus. It was deeply shocking to me personally and I would now think twice about having any alcohol during my pregnancy. 

It is a tricky area and who has the right to tell another person what to do but when there actions have an immediate and sometimes life long effect on another....hmmm. 

xxx


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## pobby (Jun 2, 2005)

I agree with avoiding alcohol during pregnancy except for maybe the odd unit for special occassion or whatever but i think its pretty outrageous that one of the bar staff asked her to leave! If she was drunk and disorderley fair enough but she clearly wasnt..no-one has the right to dictate like that to another except perhaps her midwife or Dr! 
I know that pub BTW, just down the road from me (its rubbish!   )  xx


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## loobylou713 (May 8, 2005)

Does this mean everyone as the right to go up to a pregnant woman or in fact anyone with a child who smokes and take their ciggarettes away from them. She was probably on a night out for a change from the children having a quiet drink. If that had happened to me i would of gone up the wall. Everyone knows what is bad for them but we all make our own choices. Who did this woman think she was. I bet she serves men beer who are well cut and them go home to their wives and children stinking of beer and probably acting stupid. But that is ok. She has human rights there is no law to say a pregnant woman can't drink just a recommended allowance. They recommend we eat 5 a day fruit and veg, they recommend we cut down on fat. Are they going to stop overweight people buying food that is not healthy.

Linda
xxx


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## bokbabe (Jan 17, 2008)

Perhaps the manageress is having difficulties conceiving herself and perhaps seeing someone lucky enough to be pg, drinking over the recommended level, just pushed her over the edge? We don't know her story, so I don't really think it's fair to judge her actions too harshly, she did what she felt was right and I'm sure she'll be getting into enough trouble from her bosses.


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## Orange Smartie (Dec 30, 2007)

Also I would say that yes, we may all eat, drink or do things that are not good for us. However, drinking during pregnancy can have a life long affect on the developing child so the woman drinking itsn't just making a choice for herself but for another person.


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## Be Lucky (Mar 22, 2008)

Bokbabe.i was thinking exactly the same as u last nite.i remember seein a young girl a few years ago smokin all thru her pregnancy at a pub i used to go to.when i mention this to her partner,he said his mum smoked all thru her pregnancies and the children turned out ok.how stupid!indeed when their little one was born she did have to go back to hospital and im sure the smoking didnt help.


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## loobylou713 (May 8, 2005)

I think sometimes because of our situations pregnant ladies stick out more to us. I think we are controlled enough in this country and to be honest years ago when our grans had kids they used to give you stout in hospital as they said it was good for your iron. One minute they are saying red wine is good for you the next they are saying not to drink. I think the government gets bee's in the bonnet and that subject is the flavour of the month. I think things in moderation are ok. The rubbish that goes in to convience food these days with all the additives are surely doing more harm than a pint of lager which is made from hops and what not.

Linda
xxx


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## AlmaMay (Oct 15, 2004)

Every pub, club and bar in the country has the right to refuse to serve anyone so long as they aren't breeching any equalities laws.  The person at the pub was perfectly within their rights to do what they did.  There is nothing stopping the pg lady from drinking at home.


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## loobylou713 (May 8, 2005)

So if i am lucky enough to get  BFP i will stay at home, eat at home, drink at home, smoke at home.  So if you are fat, a acholic, do not go out. I disagree that this woman had her rights taken away from her because she was pregnant. If the manageress did have fertility issues she shouldn't force her opinion on someone else. The woman was not drunken and disorderly she was having a quite drink. The is no licensing law saying you can't serve a pregnant woman. If she was right to this then she would not be getting in trouble from her employers.

If you saw a fat person in a restaurant would you refuse to serve them even though it is proven that it is bad for you to be over weight. I think people should mind their own business no matter what they are going through.


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## pobby (Jun 2, 2005)

well said Linda!  x


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## chocolate_teapot (Sep 10, 2008)

Well I think the pub manager really overstepped the mark. I don't like people smoking or drinking while pregnant but I like even less nosey busy-bodies who think they have the right to tell me what to do!


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## Orange Smartie (Dec 30, 2007)

I work with expectant mums, parents and children affected by drug and alcohol misuse and see, every day, the effects of it. Sometimes they life long and the children didn't ask for it or to be affected by what their mothers (and fathers) did during the pregnancy.  It's heartbreaking sometimes and I guess this gives me a very different perspective.

So all this talk of doing what you want is fine, I really don't care if people eat, drink or smoke themselves to death but it is different when their actions have an impact on a developing child who has no say and may have to live with the effects of that choice for the rest of their life.  

You can argue that she was just having a drink but one and a half pints would put her over the recommended weekly drinking limits and who knows she may drink at home too.  We get outraged over child cruelty yet ignore the suffering in utereo.


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## AlmaMay (Oct 15, 2004)

I didn't mean to upset anybody.  I was just stating the licensing laws of England and Wales as they currently stand because I have professional knowledge about them.  What the person did refusing to serve and barring the pg woman was perfectly legal.  It is a misnoma to say that a pub is a public house because it is not a public place.  The licencess has complete control over the premises and the licensing act requires them to do this.


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## Caz (Jul 21, 2002)

I don't think you've caused any offence at all AlmaMay (and congratulations on your pg by the way!  )



loobylou713 said:


> So if i am lucky enough to get BFP i will stay at home, eat at home, drink at home, smoke at home. So if you are fat, a acholic, do not go out. I disagree that this woman had her rights taken away from her because she was pregnant. If the manageress did have fertility issues she shouldn't force her opinion on someone else. The woman was not drunken and disorderly she was having a quite drink. The is no licensing law saying you can't serve a pregnant woman. If she was right to this then she would not be getting in trouble from her employers.
> 
> If you saw a fat person in a restaurant would you refuse to serve them even though it is proven that it is bad for you to be over weight. I think people should mind their own business no matter what they are going through.


I'm afraid I am with Yoga Princess on this. The rather obvious difference is that a fat person for example) overindulging is only causing harm to themseleves. Alcohol and byproducts of smoking cross the placenta and have been shown to have significant impact on the short and long term health of the baby. Just look up Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and imagine willingly allowing that to happen to a child and tell me that's not paramount to abuse!

I also have to point out that drinking and smoking while pregnant is always going to be frowned on by society and, in a way, quite rightly too. I'm all for live and let live but there is such a thing as being too permissive and if we accept unaccepable, anitsocial or damaging behaviour it normalises it and, IMO, exacerbates the issues that arise from it. In this case what we're talking about normalising is behaviour that can damage a child. I don't ever want to see that as accepted in society.
So, yes, perhaps if someone wants to smoke/drink during pregnancy, if they can't take the heat, it should be done in the privacy of their own home.

However...

Having said that, "current advice" on alcohol in pregnancy changes more times than I change my knickers so if the "experts" can't make their minds up what is or isn't a safe limit then individuals will chose to interpret it any which way they like or, more likely have zero faith in any advice that comes out anyway. And that's not accounting for the ones who actually don't care or haven't considered the long term effects of what they are doing to their child.

In this specific case if the woman was only ordering a half the second time and ordered a pint the first I think, if I'd been landlady, I would have put two and two together and assumed that was her self inposed "limit" served her and maybe reviewed the situation should she attempt to order a third drink. I suspect there's more to this; I suspect that it wasn't so much the refusal to serve as the manner in which it was done and / or the manner in which the refusal was met by the woman and her friend. But woman kicking off in a pub because bolshy landlady refuses to serve her doesn't make as good a story as woman who's pregnant being refused a small drink and made to feel like a kid again. Ho hum!

C~x


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