The Pregnant Addict...

This will always be a difficult topic of debate. Do we have sympathy with the mother? With the child? Or both? My immediate reaction would be to say the child and through exploration of the subject I very much doubt that my opinion will change.
Such innocence did not ask to be born into a world where it may already be addicted to the mothers hard drug of choice and therefore forced to survive under the tattered wing of her lifestyle. Jean Paul Sartre claimed that we all have a choice; we can choose do to one thing or the other, whether we find it difficult to refuse/take on, or not, we all have the power of will to make our own decisions, or we most certainly should do as intelligent thinking creatures. I find it an incredibly frustrating thing, when one pipes up for the lost and misguided adult, pointing the finger at the unfair political and hierarchical framework of society. While I can see their point, I disagree with it; it is a very easy thing to offload blame onto the 'state.' We are all perfectly capable of making our own decisions, we have as much power to steer our own lives in the direction we wish to as the governments heads have the power to steer their policies. In my opinion, it is the addicts choice in the first place to become involved with such hard drugs, and furthermore an incredibly selfish choice to have unprotected sex whilst addicted, especially when the potential of a new life is involved. If one does bring themselves to think of this potential circumstance, then I pity then. I certainly feel sympathy for the situation as it would stand, and think it important to makes the child and the mothers life as comfortable as possible, but only for the sake of the new born.
I think that overall, I would feel very little for the mother, and place all my sympathy with the child.