Pregnant Woman Told To Leave Pub

[stinkymonkey]

the nanny state continues

I can understand where the landlord is coming from, though I don't agree with what she did.

Well Greensleeves, their prerogative and mine as the same. They chose not to serve her, as have I in the past for the same reasons.

Good. Then it's within the bounds of reason for me to consider that landlady a laughable puffed-up jobsworth with a long pointy nose

Kathy.

Lets imagine she had a few pints. She got into an accident on the way home, say, she fell over, or was run down.

She gets to the hospital, and is asked if she has been drinking. She says yes, and eventually the police get involved and the question is raised 'would she have been able to avoid the accident if she weren't under the influence of alcohol', to which the answer would most certainly be yes.

The landlord then is 'blamed' for serving her too much alcohol, causing her accident.

I have seen this happen countless times, admittedly not with pregnant women, just with people in general. I tend to blame the 'suing' culture..

DSM - with people who have had 3 units? Really? If so then the suing culture is even further advanced than I feared.

However if that is the case you're at just as much risk through serving anyone three units - her being pregnant has nothing to do with it.

Well, some people do get over tipsy on one pint!

Seriously though, who is to say she would have stopped? When would be the right time to refuse her service? Once she was hammered?

How do they know she hadn't already had 2 pints in another pub?

...but DSM she hadn't consumed several pints - she'd had one!

You can't refuse to serve somebody on the grounds of what might happen. If she had knocked back 4 pints and was after more then I might be on the landlady's side

Why didn't she just go to another pub.

I was once chucked out of a pub because the bloke I was was Irish and the racist fucker publican didn't like Irish .

So we left and took our business elsewhere.

Two pints in another pub? That's not their place to speculate and not their problem. Are bar staff usually medically qualified? No. Yet more evidence of the mentality of some sad little barmaid/publican trying to exercise authority over his patrons

SGM: As I said, I drank a lot while PG and my DS is unharmed (to the point that I joke with friends about the advantages of drinking while PG). Now I appreciate that this is anecdotal evidence to you, but to me it's a fact: DS was unharmed by my drinking. It's blindlingly obvious that drinking alcohol, even quite a lot of alcohol, does not inevitably damage a foetus.
Now, some birth defects and fertility problems can be caused by men's behaviour, such as their drinking affecting their sperm, or their drug use within the home affecting their PG partners, but men's behaviour is not policed in the same way. While it is reasonable to inform women that drinking alcohol while PG (or eating blue cheese etc) may cause problems for the foetus, it then becomes up to individual women to assess the risk and make their own decisions.

A barperson refused to serve me once in a pub as I was 'clearly' pregnant. I was just a bit chubby and wearing a badly thought out rugby top.

I said I wasn't pregnant so he then grasped at straws (probably so he didn't look stupid) and said well I don't have to serve you. I said quite right mate you don't have to serve anyone, would you prefer it if we leave.

A pregnant pause (sorry ) while the whole bar looked on in interest.

Barkeep puffs up chest. "yes that would be best".

The entire rugby team and wives left quietly saying bye.

Pub empty, job done

Greensleeves - It really is their place to speculate, and could very well become their problem.

Often people can have two pints and seem completely sober, then the third or fourth knocks them over the edge, and they are 'suddenly' very drunk. The amount of times someone comes into a bar, orders a pint and halfway through it they start slurring, and you realise they have obviously already had 2 or 3 elsewhere.

Its not exercising authority, its adhering to the very strict social responsibility guidelines that are enforced by the government. And, its going to get a lot worse come September.

Not sure how I feel about this tbh. It raises some interesting points about how responsible we are for other members of society and unborn children.
It was probably more than 2 units BTW (and another 1 in the half) I think that's based on standard strength lager, lots are premium strength so she probably had just under 3 and would have had over 4 had she had the half.

Not a nice thought but she could have had an abortion booked for the next day!

A pint has 2 units of alcohol in it. A pregnant woman shouldn't commune more than one unit in an evening. She was intending to drink the equivalent of half a bottle of wine.

It is impossible to tell whether someone has cirrhosis of the liver, but it is possible to tell if someone is heavily pregnant.

nhs guidelines

The nhs guidelines suggest that after three months a pregnant woman should have no more than one or two units a week.

Surely the baby has rights too.

Laurie, how shocking!

I don't really think the land lord/lady was out of order at all. They have a legal right/ responsibility. I would feel extremely uncomfortable serving a visibly pregnant woman more than one drink, if any.

I didn't drink when pg apart from several sips of DHs pints. BUT I clearly remember being stood at a bar (heavily pg) and holding his pint for him having a small sip when the landlord walked in. He looked very worried, spoke to a member of his bar staff and then tentatively approached me to ask if it was mine. I explained and he looked v relieved. It was a bit embarrassing, but IMHO he was completely right and I wasn't offended at all - actually I was quite impressed.

I do think we have a collective responsibility for our children's well-being, and this is an unusual but prob OK example.

BBC website:

a half-pint glass of beer is only equivalent to one unit if the alcohol content is 3.5%, but most lagers on sale today are much stronger and a pint could easily be 2.8 units.

"there was a guy who had cirrhosis of the liver and he was being served in a pub - I think that was wrong. "

there was indeed - but I think his condition was already terminal - would you deny a dying man a drink??

What would people think if she had had an abortion booked for the next day?

See, I'm always biased when it comes to this because I come from the US where pregnant women have been known to not be served caffeinated beverages in cafes.

People are looking after the baby's health and all.

"What would people think if she had had an abortion booked for the next day? "

I'd think that's pure speculation given that she's posing smugly holding her bump presumably a couple of days after the event that's been reported

Solidgoldbrass - great post.
The issue for me isn't that I don't believe alcohol while pregnant is risky - of course it is, but the risk increases with the amount. It's the fact that society chooses to focus on pregnant women's behaviour whilst ignoring other things. If society is serious about the well-being of our foetuses then providing enough midwives for delivery might be a more logical place to start. But no, much easier and cheaper to just focus on the way women behave

Their problem with serving her was that she was pregnant, not that she was behaving badly or drunkenly or looked like she was likely to have an accident.

The pub staff took it upon themselves to decide how much was 'too much' (don't forget they had already served her one drink). And that is a decision that probably nobody, not even the most qualified doctor in the world, could have made about that woman at that stage in her pregnancy.

They are of course entitled to put limits on who drinks what in their pub, but in this case it just makes them look a bit idiotic. And theirs a pub to be avoided.

No I agree FAQ, I think the chances are miniscule :O I mean at the time - the landlord didn't know that wasn't the case.

Still not saying he was wrong...just musing

Must remember to use the abortion line if anyone ever refuses to serve me though.

(Oh by the way I was served a burger with blue cheese on it at the OK Diner yesterday - am I as bad as the woman in the article or is it only alcohol-related disobedience that counts?)