Much has been made of the government’s recent decree that all fertile women are to conduct themselves, and be treated medically, as “pre-pregnant” at all times:

New federal guidelines ask all females capable of conceiving a baby to treat themselves — and to be treated by the health care system — as pre-pregnant, regardless of whether they plan to get pregnant anytime soon.

Among other things, this means all women between first menstrual period and menopause should take folic acid supplements, refrain from smoking, maintain a healthy weight and keep chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes under control.

While most of these recommendations are well known to women who are pregnant or seeking to get pregnant, experts say it’s important that women follow this advice throughout their reproductive lives, because about half of pregnancies are unplanned and so much damage can be done to a fetus between conception and the time the pregnancy is confirmed.

The recommendations aim to “increase public awareness of the importance of preconception health” and emphasize the “importance of managing risk factors prior to pregnancy” . . . .

However, part of the discussion has been over whether the Washington Post (quoted above) misread the CDC report on the issue, and made the whole thing sound more ominous than it should. The reliable and insightful Amanda at Pandagon thinks they not merely misread it, but re-wrote it to incorporate an anti-woman spin. As for the original report, the similarly admirable Ezra Klein thinks that “While the phrasing of treating women as ‘pre-conception’ was deeply discomfiting, the actual medical advice and data offered was all sound.”

I largely agree with both Amanda and Ezra, and so stayed out of the issue when it first arose. But I do have a few things to say about it, and so, prompted by a flattering request from Cara at Reproductive Rights Blog, I’ll add my two cents below the jump.

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