The Truth about Pills and Pregnancy

Many women have to take medicines while pregnant. But could they be risking the health of their unborn child? Decades after the Thalidomide scandal shocked the world, Panorama reveals how another medicine has damaged far more children. Drugs cannot be tested on pregnant women for ethical reasons, so doctors do not know if most prescription drugs are safe for the unborn child, and the system set up to monitor side-effects appears to be flawed. As evidence emerges that some common antidepressants are linked to heart defects in babies, the programme asks how much we really know about the safety of medicines women take while pregnant.