Governor Stein Proclaims Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Awareness Month

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Awareness Month

2025

By The Governor Of The State Of North Carolina

A Proclamation

Whereas, alcohol is a teratogen that crosses the placenta and can damage the central nervous system and other organs of the developing embryo/fetus anytime during pregnancy; and

Whereas, approximately half of all pregnancies are unplanned, contributing to late entry into prenatal care and presenting a barrier to optimal pregnancy management, particularly during the crucial early weeks of embryonic development; and

Whereas, although the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on the brain are irreversible, appropriate accommodations and supports can assist people with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) to lead empowering and successful lives; and

Whereas, FASD is an umbrella term describing the range of effects that can occur in a person who was exposed to alcohol before birth; and FASD is a brain-based disability that has lifelong impacts; and

Whereas, studies that include research data from North Carolina estimate that up to one in 20 U.S. school children may have an FASD; and

Whereas, in North Carolina, 57 percent of women drank alcohol before becoming pregnant and 7.3 percent continued drinking during pregnancy, resulting in an estimated 8,628 babies born in North Carolina with alcohol exposure; and

Whereas, the good health and well-being of the people of North Carolina are enhanced by the support of a state and national effort to educate about and prevent alcohol-exposed pregnancies and build FASD-informed communities; and

Whereas, the North Carolina Fetal Alcohol Prevention Program (Proof Alliance NC) joins with FASD United Affiliates as well as many dedicated volunteers, health care professionals, educators, and parent groups by participating in this promotion;

Now, Therefore, I, Josh Stein, Governor of the State of North Carolina, do hereby proclaim September 2025 as “Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Awareness Month” in North Carolina and commend its observance to all citizens.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Great Seal of the State of North Carolina at the Capitol in Raleigh this twenty-first day of August in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-fifth and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-ninth.