My long post was in response to someone else bringing up the "fact" that cigarettes are more dangerous than car exhaust. I simply don't like to see blatant misinformation bandied about.
You may be happy to talk about that another time, but others felt the need to talk about it now in this context. In my opinion, it IS relevant - I make a personal choice not to own a car or drive because I know the physical effects such things have on our health, because I truly believe we need to reduce the number of cars on the road and, most importantly, because I CAN [personally] make that choice. I also make a choice NOT to smoke for the same reasons. I have smoked a total of 2 cigarettes in my entire life - I tried them at the age of 10 and found that they tasted repulsive to me and never felt the need to touch them again. I had a mother who smoked whilst I was growing up (so I guess you could argue that I've smoked more than 2 cigarettes ....) but she was the best mother I could have asked for.
This thread, at the heart of it, is about what you consider as doing the best for your children's health and well-being. So many people raise their children differently;
Some breastfeed
Others don't
Some parents smoke whilst pregnant
Others don't
Some physically smack their children as a form of discipline
Others don't
Some play emotional games with their children's mental well-being as a form of discipline
Others don't
Some parents educate their children privately
Others don't
Some choose not to use a buggy to protect their children from ever closer proximity to car fumes
Others don't
Some raise their children as vegetarians
Others don't
...
At the end of the day, all the choices above are LEGAL choices a parent can make. So criticise as much as you want, judge as much as you want - at the end of the day, you will more often than not directly or indirectly benefit from the choices others make whether or not you agree with their actions.
As for the smoking point, it is EXTREMELY easy to narrowly seize on one section of society and target their actions vehemently without taking the time to step back and see the wider picture. millie30's post hit the nail on the head. People on here who refuse to criticise or judge mothers who smoke whilst pregnant are said to do so to justify their own guilt - and I'm sure some do. However, what you don't realise is that by saying that they should not be allowed to, you are advocating a system where women's bodies are legislated over in a way that men's bodies aren't (especially when it is perfectly legal for men to smoke) - that is a very scary prospect. Where do you stop - at what point in the gestational period should a woman not be allowed to smoke? In the later months of pregnancy? Earlier months? At the embryonic stage? At the moment of implantation of the egg? At the moment of fertilisation of the egg? What about those intending on getting pregnant? What about those who do not intend to get pregnant but do so and are unaware for several weeks? What about just the fact that a woman is able to get pregnant? Should their fertility be tested from puberty to enforce this?
Why aren't we talking about intending/unintending fathers? After all, sperm quality is said to be affected by smoking. Are they irresponsible as well? If so, at what stage? Before they intend to become fathers? Once they intend to become fathers? At the moment they get their partner pregnant?
What about the general public? If pregnant women and unborn children should not be subjected to cigarette smoke, should anyone be allowed to smoke in public given the chance that they may come into close contact with a woman who is pregnant (and may or may not know it)? Are they being irresponsible by smoking?
If so, what about all the other things that are known to cause unborn children harm in the womb? Like - hmm, I don't know - dangerous particulates and carcinogens in the air, regardless of the source? Should those also be policed as thoroughly?
I'm now harping from a soapbox so I will step off. This is just my tuppence on the matter. I judge about a lot of things, but so long as a person's actions are perfectly legal, I either respect their right to carry on or I try and do something personally to change it (it's just that that doesn't involve villifying them to the exclusion of what other good they do in their lives).