Pregnant pause from flash mob
A group of people with balloons stuffed up their shirts delivered a serious message during a nine-minute flash mob action in the centre of Esperance last week.
Thursday’s flash mob was organised by Gumtree Church pastor Warren Harvey to highlight Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and encourage pregnant women not to drink at all during their pregnancy.
“We want to remind everyone, not just women, that no alcohol is the best and safest choice if you are pregnant or planning a pregnancy,” Pastor Harvey said.
“We are just trying to raise awareness and also at the same time we are taking a no blaming, naming or shaming approach. A lot of women who maybe drank during pregnancy were unaware or were uninformed or maybe they were misinformed.
“Maybe they were told it was okay to have a few drinks. There are still books out there that say it’s okay, so there is a lot of misinformation out there.”
A study by Jan Payne and Kathryn France from the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research found 59 per cent of women drank alcohol in at least one trimester of pregnancy, 4 per cent consumed five or more standard drinks on a typical occasion in at least one trimester of pregnancy and 15 per cent drank in excess of the 2001 Australian Alcohol Guideline for pregnant women. It said the consumption of alcohol during pregnancy could result in poor pregnancy outcomes such as miscarriage, stillbirth and preterm birth.
