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Dec 2013
A warning from the Surgeon General:

WARNING. This beverage contains alcohol.
It should not be consumed by pregnant women.
No, not even a little, no not even early on,
Or in a certain trimester, no, not at all.

WARNING: There is a myth out there
That says that small amounts of alcohol
Can be beneficial for a child.
This is false. There is no benefit.
Why, then, take a risk?

WARNING. There is a life within you now.
It breathes the air you breathe,
Your blood runs through its veins.

WARNING: Your misjudgment may drown it.
Your alcohol-soaked impairment may cost your child
A chance at a normal start.

WARNING: FASD doesn’t just stand for
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.
It also stands for From Alcohol Stems Death-
Death of a chance at true normalcy,
Possibly death of your child.
Beware, take care.

WARNING: What you do now
Cannot later be undone.
For an additional prompt on FASD, I chose to imagine what a poetic warning might look like if posted as a "Surgeon General" warning on the back of a bottle of alcoholic beverage.
Written by
Iron Butterfly
369
 
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