Is there a safe amount of alcohol during pregnancy? The answer is no. This even includes the period while trying to get pregnant. In fact, alcohol has risks to a pregnancy before a woman might even know she is pregnant. Alcohol crosses from maternal blood to the fetus. Potential risks alcohol can have on a pregnancy include: miscarriage, stillbirth, intellectual disability, and birth defects.

Outside of pregnancy, risky alcohol use also has other negative consequences on health, including increased risks of motor vehicle accidents, heart disease, elevated blood pressure, liver disease...