The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defended a recommendation that sexually active women refrain from drinking alcohol if they are not using birth control after it spurred a strong backlash.
Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the CDC, said in an interview Friday, “We weren’t as clear as we had hoped to be.”
The CDC report released Tuesday focused on the possibility that children may develop fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, estimating that 3.3 million women between the ages of 15 and 44 who drink alcohol while not using birth control risk exposing their infants to the disorders.
The report suggested that women who intend to get pregnant or could get pregnant should not drink alcohol, as about half of all U.S. pregnancies are unplanned and most women do not know they are pregnant until four to six weeks into the pregnancy.
Jezebel, a website devoted to women’s issues, called it an “unrealistic warning.” The Washington Post said it was “incredibly condescending.” And Slate called it “swath-yourselfin-bubble-wrap thinking.”