Ban coffee for all women?
If caffeine is an abortifacient, should it be outlawed for all potentially pregnant women?
http://www.jstor.org/pss/3702858
http://www.amazing-green-tea.com/drinking-green-tea-when-pregnant.html
http://www.likhaan.org/sites/default/files/pdf/2008_facts_contraception_abortion.pdf
If abortion becomes illegal in all circumstances and life begins at conception, does drinking coffee become a negligent homicide?
wtf, No way!
Side Score: 13
|
Yes, save the babies!
Side Score: 1
|
|
|
|
2
points
Life carries with it risk, a risk of miscarriage below a cut off shouldn't be denied to pregnant women and shouldn't be denied to all women, because the risk doesn't justify the restriction in such cases. A very large amount would have to be consumed often in order for the risk to be considerable. From your second source " Caffeine can reduce birth weight and cause miscarriage, but this is significant only for 600 milligrams of caffeine. This is equivalent to 6 cups of coffee a day. Another study based in Denmark arrived at similar conclusion. They interviewed more than 88,000 pregnant women. Moderate consumption was found to be safe. However, drinking more than 8 cups or more of coffee a day increases the chances of miscarriage or still birth by 60%. " While your 3rd source states that 3 or more cups may be significant. At most, the data supports a limitation of intake for pregnant women, of one to two cups a day. Side: wtf, No way!
Coffee has numerous health benefits. While drinking it during pregnancy (not "potentially pregnant" which is highly ambiguous) is not recommended by doctors because of the caffeine, drinking outside of pregnancy can be quite good for the drinker when done in moderation. As stated before, "potentially pregnant" is a highly ambiguous term which could refer to someone who thinks she is pregnant or someone who may become pregnant at some point. It would be like banning alcohol from all women in the range of childbirth ages. Additionally, there would be no practical way to enforce this law (or most other prohibition laws for that matter) considering our already faltering/failing war on drugs (which we can all say is probably a bit more important, even if a bit misguided, than a war on coffee). Link: http://www.health.harvard.edu/ Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/ Link: http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/26/health/ Side: wtf, No way!
1
point
1
point
1
point
|
3
points
It has positive antioxidant effects, and like most things is only unhealthy in large amounts. Even water is toxic if you have enough of it. People have the right to make themselves unhealthy, so long as doing such doesn't do the same to society. Drinking large amounts of coffee often, isn't going to have a negative enough effect on society to justify it's ban. Side: wtf, No way!
|