"It's more a matter of women knowing and being informed that if they are drinking alcohol, sexually active and not using birth control, that they could be exposing a baby to a teratogen, and that could cause fetal alcohol spectrum disorders," McKnight-Eily said. What the report really said 
 
 The report rightly noted that half of pregnancies in the United States are unplanned, and found no difference in alcohol consumption between women who were trying to get pregnant and women who weren't.  Julie: Using birth control if you're drinking and fertile was just something the agency told doctors to “recommend.” The only category of women to whom they straight up said, “Don't drink,” was women who are "trying to get pregnant or could get pregnant." “Every woman who is pregnant or trying to get pregnant -- and her partner -- want a healthy baby," Coleen Boyle, director of CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, said in a statement. Alcohol use during pregnancy "can cause lasting physical, behavioral and intellectual disabilities that can last for a child’s lifetime," according to the CDC. (Photo: Alyssa L Schukar, for USA TODAY) 
 
 Women of childbearing age should avoid alcohol unless they're using contraception, federal health officials said Tuesday, in a move to reduce the number of babies born with fetal alcohol syndrome. As a result, the CDC takes a hard-line stance: No amount of alcohol is safe during pregnancy. Alcohol is considered by most doctors to be a leading cause of preventable birth defects and developmental disorders in the U.S. As one pediatrician put it to me last year, “the very worst thing that a mom could do during pregnancy is drink alcohol.” And women are drinking more in general, so it’s logical that this issue would be on the CDC’s radar. In trying to cut through this misinformation and simplify mixed messages for women, the CDC's public health message got confused, giving many the impression it was more punitive than clarifying. CLOSE A CDC study has revealed that women who can give birth and are not on contraception should not drink at all. 7 Things To Know About Women And Alcohol 7 Things To Know About Women And Alcohol
– A warning too far? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has taken a lot of heat this week for a press release warning that more than 3 million American women of childbearing age who drink alcohol and don't use birth control are at risk of exposing a potential baby to fetal alcohol syndrome. "About half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned, and even if planned, most women won't know they are pregnant for the first month or so, when they might still be drinking," warned CDC Principal Deputy Director Anne Schuchat. "The risk is real. Why take the chance?" The CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics say there is no safe amount of alcohol that can be consumed during pregnancy. The warning caused a backlash, with the Atlantic labeling it "Protect Your Womb From the Demon Drink" and USA Today noting that "alcohol plays a role in many conceptions, after all, even among married couples." Lela McKnight-Eily, however, a member of the CDC's Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Prevention Team, tells the Huffington Post that the intention wasn't to order millions of women to use birth control or stop drinking completely. "We definitely didn't make any recommendations for women who are pre-pregnant," she says, explaining that the warning was aimed at raising awareness of the risks among women who are actively trying to conceive. (Recent research suggests that for pregnant women, a coffee a day won't affect child IQ scores or behavior.)