Alcohol, Cigarette Smoking, and Illicit Drug Use, Among Pregnant Women The controversy over the use of alcohol, cigarettes, and illicit drug use in pregnant women is a topic that has been researched and discussed for many years. There are many different opinions out there on these topics and no conclusive evidence as to how much use of these substances is too much or an acceptable amount during pregnancy, which makes it easy to conclude that the only way to truly avoid the risks of these substances to the fetus and the mother would be abstinence. The mission of Healthy People 2020 is to provide scientific based strategies that are developed by the use of measurable goals and objectives to improve health, along with developing a greater understanding and a higher awareness of the factors that facilitate disease and lead to a decline in health. This mission promotes the opportunity for improvement of the overall health and quality of life for people of all ages, nationwide. Healthy people 2020 is made up of multiple goals and objectives that are broken down into categories which make up the outline of the improvement goals for this decade. One important goal that relates to maternal and newborn health is to increase the number of women that remain abstinent from alcohol, illicit drug use, and cigarette smoking during pregnancy. The objectives related to this goal are to increase abstinence from cigarette smoking, to increase abstinence from alcohol and binge drinking, and to
