A Different Demographic

On my way to the hospital in the morning, I walk past the hospital sign. As per Queensland Health regulations, smoking is forbidden past the sign. So naturally that’s where clusters of smokers congregate, with a haze of smoke wafting around them or being blown into people’s faces as they walk by. One of the people leaning on the wooden stump is a young thin woman with a bulging abdomen, obviously pregnant. And yet, she’s puffing away without a care in the world.

I normally try not to be judgmental about people’s behaviors, even when there is a direct connection between their past or current behaviors and their subsequent illnesses. As long as they know the risks and are willing to take their chances, I am of the opinion that we, as health care professionals, are not there to save people from themselves. But when a woman becomes pregnant, it’s an entirely different story. All that individual freedom to choose what to do to their own body argument goes straight out the window, because it’s not about her body anymore. I am sure she has been educated about the dangers of smoking while pregnant. By knowingly allowing these toxic substances to circulate around her body, cross the placenta, and mix with the fetal circulation, what she is doing really amounts to child abuse.

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At antenatal clinics in the last few days, I saw quite a few pregnant women in their late teens coming in for check-ups. Some were on their first pregnancy, but some of them were on number two or three. I was told that it’s quite normal for young women to start having babies while in their teens in this area. The youth of these young expectant mothers were only rivaled by the young mothers I saw in rural Zambia. Such is life in rural Australia. While women in metropolitan areas focus on their careers and put off child rearing for later and later, women in rural areas run on a different clock, with a completely different set of priorities. I am not saying there’s anything wrong with having children so young, but to someone who grew up and live in the career-focused paradigm, seeing people who are content to start families as the first priority in their lives at such a young age is something that will take time to get used to.

Like they say, different strokes for different folks.