Drugs and pregnancy

Today I saw an interesting question...  How many women use illicit drugs in pregnancy? 

We all know that different drugs cause different birth defects.  Prescription, over-the-counter and illicit drugs can all cause birth defects.  Some effects are truly horrific, like those due to thalidomide, and avoidable.  Others far more subtle.  In a perfect world no pregnant women would ever take a drug, legal or illegal.  But this is not a perfect world.  We still get headaches and we still get colds.  Chronic diseases do not go away when you become pregnant, nor do addictions.  So we keep taking drugs. 

So how many women take illicit drugs when pregnant? 4.7 %  Interestingly, more than 6 % of pregnant women reported the use of multiple drugs.  Drugs that include tobacco, alcohol, prescription and illicit.  The 4.7 % admit using at least one illicit drug sometime during pregnancy. 

Thank AACT question of the day.