Woman Should Be Fined for Giving Birth on Plane and Inconveniencing Passengers

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
by Lisa Fogarty 12 hours ago

Most of us have to admit we've done some pretty inconsiderate things while pregnant. I confess to sending my husband out in the dead of winter on more than one occasion in pursuit of a certain brand and flavor of frozen yogurt. 

But when your irresponsible actions could potentially hurt your baby -- not to mention piss off and put out hundreds of people -- well, shame on you. Take, for example, this woman who lied about her pregnancy and gave birth on an airplane. What was she thinking?

An Arik Air flight en route from Nigeria to London had to make an emergency landing in Spain on Sunday because a woman on board was in labor and giving birth while the plane was airborne. Fortunately for the mom, whose name hasn't been released, two doctors on board came to her rescue. Both mom and baby are fine, but the drama is far from over. The airline is now looking into the very real possibility that the woman's doctor provided her with a false medical report that lied about the duration of her pregnancy!

You may recall that, among other rules like not eating sushi and drinking loads of wine, women over 32 weeks pregnant are prohibited from flying. And this is a perfect example of why -- what if a complication had occurred while this woman gave birth and she was unable to take care of it while 32,000 feet in the air? Whatever her reasons for doing something so mindless, the bottom line is that she put her health and the health of her baby at risk. 

Oh, and let's not forget that she also inconsiderately cost hundreds of other passengers their time and, possibly, money. Who knows how many of those passengers had connecting flights that they missed in London because of this woman? If her doctor must pay some kind of penalty for providing false medical documents, I feel she should also be held accountable for putting herself and her baby at risk, while disrupting the lives of others. 

Do you think this woman should pay a penalty for her actions or do you think the 32-week fly cut-off is just ridiculous? 

Image Via viZZZual.com/Flickr

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Lisa Fogarty

is a former old-timey print journalist who lives in Brooklyn with her husband and toddler girl. She still carries a notebook everywhere and is always on the lookout for tasty vegan food and blouses with collars that will finally put the Peter Pan out on its (adorable) tush.

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