ABSTRACT
Drug use in pregnancy is an extremely difficult issue for health professionals. Doctors need to make decisions about which drugs to prescribe for pregnant women and which to avoid. All drugs should be avoided in pregnancy unless they are essential. In practice it may not be easy to know when drug treatment really is necessary or whether a particular medicine is an appropriate choice for a pregnant woman. The benefits of treating a pregnant woman should always be weighed against the risks of giving no medication. Health professionals need access to reliable and up-to-date information about therapeutics in pregnancy so they can give these women good advice. The strict definition of a teratogen is an agent or factor which can cause congenital malformations. The term is now used for any agent which, given to the pregnant mother, causes or contributes to malformation or abnormal physiological function or mental development of the fetus or in the child after birth.
