• Posted July 29, 2026

More Women Drinking During Pregnancy

An increasing number of women drink during pregnancy, potentially risking the health of their unborn children, a new study says.

More than 1 in 7 women reported that they drank alcohol while pregnant in 2023-24, researchers reported July 27 in JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

That’s up from fewer than 1 in 10 women in 2011-12, with steady increases in alcohol use during pregnancy, researchers said.

“We found that each successive two-year period was associated with higher odds of current alcohol use, binge drinking and heavy drinking during the past month," lead researcher Emilie Bruzelius said in a news release. She’s a postdoctoral research fellow at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health in New York City.

For the new study, researchers analyzed data from a federally sponsored phone survey that tracks the risky health habits of Americans, the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

The team identified more than 33,700 pregnant women who provided information on their past-month alcohol use.

Results showed that alcohol use among pregnant women increased from 9% in 2011-12 to a peak of 15% in 2021-22, before declining slightly to 14.5% in 2023-24.

Likewise, binge drinking and heavy drinking also increased among pregnant women, reaching 4.6% and 2%, respectively, by 2023-24. Binge drinking involves four or more drinks downed at one occasion, while heavy drinking involves eight or more drinks per week.

"While no amount of alcohol has been established as safe during pregnancy, these increases across all patterns of drinking are concerning," said senior researcher Dr. Silvia Martins, a professor of epidemiology also at Columbia University Mailman School.

There also was a strong association between tobacco use and higher-risk drinking among pregnant women. Among those who engaged in binge or heavy drinking, 68% also used tobacco, the study found.

More research is needed to better understand this increase in drinking among pregnant women, the authors said.

Alcohol use during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of miscarriage, preterm birth, stillbirth and sudden infant death syndrome, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Alcohol also has been linked to birth defects and developmental delays in children, the CDC says.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on alcohol use during pregnancy.

SOURCES: Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, news release, July 27, 2026; JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, July 27, 2026