Pregnant mothers succumb to varied forms of unconsciousness or ailments that affect different organs of their bodies. Some suffer from prenatal nausea, mania, and depression. Some succumb to organ-related pains like headaches, stomachaches, allergies, and back pains. To reduce the pains, pregnant women have to take drugs. In the process, some women tend to buy drugs from shops given without viable prescriptions while others seek medical attention from physicians.
Some of the prescribed or over-the-counter drugs have led to teratogenesis of the body organs of the unborn. In severe cases, the drugs have led to an unintentional abortion. To reduce the impending risks, Gideon, Anne, and Shinya recommend that manufacturers should clarify the effects of a given drug on the health of the mother and developing embryo. This will be crucial in warning women against the indiscriminate use of any drug for relieving pain as well as directing physicians on what type of drug to use in diagnosing a pregnant patient.
Even though it is important to specify the effects of particular drugs on the health of pregnant mothers and unborn children, the act itself may be misperceived as indirect instruction to abortion. Gideon, Anne, and Shinya connote that many carrier women especially in North American fall victims to unwanted pregnancies, and can easily seek abortion (1128). In such circumstances, the specificity of the manufacturers about the negative effects of particular drugs may seem as indirect lead to committing abortion, which is contrary to societal ethics.
The existence of the teratogenic drugs in the market has resulted to uncertainties concerning effectiveness of various drugs on the health of the pregnant women. For example, many controversies have surrounded the use of drugs like spermicides, Bendictine and benzodiazepines. Gideon, Anne and Shinya clarify that initial studies conducted on the drugs unveiled that the drugs were teratogenic and therefore unfit for pregnant mothers (1135). However, extensive research that has taken into account various factors like previous and prevailing maternal health conditions also proved that the drugs are safe. As reported by Gideon, Anne, and Shinya, the latest research found that woman with cancers, epilepsy, and other abnormal health conditions are likely to give birth to structurally or functionally malformed babies if they used the drugs during pregnancy (1135). This makes it necessary for pregnant mothers without intentions of terminating their pregnancies to seek advice of health physicians before taking any medicinal drug.
The sad experiences that followed the introduction of Isotretinoin and thalidomide in the market is that there is a serious need for drug manufacturers and healthcare practitioners to test effects of particular drugs before releasing to the market (Gideon, Anne and Shinya 1132). Such measures could help limit the then unknown structural and functional malformations caused by thalidomide and Isotretinoin on unborn fetus. Unfortunately, previous tests carried on particular drugs have borne unexpected results as some proven drugs end up causing problems on targeted pregnancies. This has been the case especially where investigators use animals for testing the viability and eligibility of the drugs.
To reduce the potential confusion over the credibility of particular drugs on pregnancies, I advise that apart from conducting tests on pregnant animals and monitoring use and probable effects on the users, manufacturers of the particular drugs should also raise test-tube embryos. The manufacturers should use the investigated drugs to create coherent conditions for the raised test-tube embryo and monitor the effects of the particular drug on the development of the given embryo.
Works cited
Gideon, Koren, Anne Pastuszak and Shinya Ito. Drugs in pregnancy. The New England Journal of Medicine 338.16 (1998): 1128-37. Print.