Is There A Debate About Smoking While Pregnant That I Don’t Know About?

Yesterday, while researching an article I wrote about how one study claims women smoke cigarettes so they can have smaller babies and therefore an easier delivery, I stumbled across a pretty startling website.

I didn’t realize that smoking while pregnant was debatable, like perhaps having a glass of wine occasionally during your third trimester. Yet, there it was, staring back at me from the screen of my laptop:

Courageous British Mum Says Smoking During Her Pregnancy Helped Make Her Baby Stronger

Wait, WHAT? I’m familiar with the young mom in Great Britain who says smoking helped make her baby’s heart stronger but did that headline say “courageous“?

I clicked on for a closer look and lo and behold, the article outlines all the arguments about why smoking is bad and then says there is no factual proof supporting those arguments. Okay, so it could just be one weirdo who really digs smoking, I thought, but after the article there were several comments from women who agree that smoking is harmless. Here are just a few:

I smoked throughout my entire pregnancy……when the dr. was examining the placenta, he stared at me and asked….”I see you quit smoking!” I told him I didn’t and he confessed he had never seen a healthier placenta! Yes, my daughter was born 1 mo. early at 6 pounds….however, I do think that falling down 4 ice-covered steps was the cause of that! And confirmed by the dr.!

I smoked through 5 pregnancies, had five full-term babies averaging 8 pounds each! They are all smarter and better and faster than their friends and always have been! They grew up in a smoking home, and all of them smoke and I’m glad of it! They are sick much less often than their peers and certainly much less susceptible to emotional manipulation by society and media.



One woman said her mother smoked while pregnant and she thinks that’s what caused her ADD. Then the whole group attacks her and says no way, it’s probably caused by her diet or whatever. I’m a little blown away by this and wondered if y’all have ever heard someone defend smoking while pregnant? Like, is this an actual debate? Yeah, I know there’s that nutter in Great Britain, but I didn’t know there are actually groups of people debating smoking while pregnant in much the same way we’ve debated drinking while pregnant. I thought we were all on the same page about smoking while pregnant? No?

The website is called Sign of The Times and was launched by launched in 2002 by Laura Knight-Jadczyk who calls herself a historian, author and wife of a theoretical physicist.

Here’s more from the website’s “about” page:

While the site began as a one-woman operation, this work quickly attracted some truly fine, open minds – people interested in truth, many of whom are scientific professionals and whose work on SOTT is anonymous for their own protection. Our work has been attacked, suppressed, and marginalized by the Powers That Be in ways that no other work has been, leaving us with the distinct impression that we must be on the right track!

On the right track? Whoa there, partner. Not so sure about that. What do y’all think? Have you ever heard people defend smoking while pregnant? Is there a debate I didn’t know about?