The World Health Organization (WHO) has come under fire after having released the first draft of their Global Alcohol Action Plan that suggested women should not drink alcohol.
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A regression for women's rights
Under the still-to-be-revised plan to curb alcohol-related fatalities, the WHO has urged governments to actively discourage pregnant women and women of child-bearing age from drinking any alcohol.
The suggestion comes after statistics provided by the WHO report that alcohol consumption was accountable for 0.7 million deaths of women across the world in 2016. But, as it was pointed out by many, the organization failed to include statistics for men, which as it turns out, is almost three times greater than the amount of their female counterparts (2.3 million).
As a result, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) is now accusing the WHO of perpetuating double standards that only contribute to the reductive policing of women's bodies. Clare Murphy, Chief Executive of BPAS said:
It is extremely disturbing to see the World Health Organization risk hard-won women’s rights by attempting to control their bodies and choices in this way. By treating all women—for 40 years of their lives—as little more than vessels, the WHO reduces women to little more than their reproductive capabilities.
Fuelling anti-abortion rhetoric
The charity is also concerned that the language used in the draft would be used to fuel anti-abortion rhetoric. In fact, the BPAS claims there has never even been any scientific consensus on whether low to mid-level alcohol consumption during pregnancy is truly harmful to foetuses. Murphy explains that:
The narrative that women need to be stopped from posing a risk to foetuses—even those which do not exist—is used around the world to surveil and criminalise women making decisions during pregnancy.
Before adding:
A global organisation such as WHO should recognise the power that such dangerous messaging about women’s behaviour carries, and should be more alert to the impact of these statements. We urge them to review this document as a matter of urgency.
