Why Can't a Pregnant Woman Enjoy a Glass of Wine?

I’ve long described pregnancy as a lengthy list of things you can’t do (or eat or drink). Of course, growing and nurturing a human being is a miraculous
process, but let’s be honest: It’s also a buzz kill. From the moment any woman finds out she’s pregnant, she becomes bombarded with “no.” No sushi, no hot tubs, no jumping on trampolines, no caffeine, no deli meats, and above all, no alcohol.None. Not a single drop.

On its face, that statement may not seem controversial; after all, American culture has long since wised to the fact that binge drinking during pregnancy is dangerous. But, as Nora Calpan-Bricker pointed out at Slate, it also suggests “a more complex truth … It’s not a statement about something that we do know: that alcohol, even the occasional glass of wine, is definitively harmful to a developing fetus.”This zero-alcohol policy has long been touted by theAmerican Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and just last week the American Academy of Pediatricians released a new report on fetal-alcohol-spectrum disorder that likewise denounces any and all alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Said the paper’s lead author, “There is no known ‘safe’ level of alcohol consumption.”