Alcohol Use and Women’s Health
For women of childbearing age, the consequences of excessive alcohol consumption, particularly binge drinking, includes unintentional injuries, domestic violence, risky sexual behavior and sexually transmitted diseases, unintended pregnancy, and alcohol-exposed pregnancies.

In 2001, 11.8% of women aged 18 to 44 years reported consuming alcohol within the past month, and 11% reported binge drinking (5 or more drinks on any one occasion) (Naimi, 2003).

In 2005, 58.1 percent of males aged 12 or older were current drinkers, higher than the rate for females (45.9 percent). However, among youths aged 12 to 17, the percentage of females who were current drinkers (17.2 percent) was higher than that for males (15.9 percent).

Among adults aged 18 to 25, an estimated 55.4 percent of females  reported current drinking in 2005. These percentages are similar to 2004.

Women with unintended pregnancies were 60% more likely to binge drink during the three months before conception than women with intended pregnancies (Naimi, 2003).
Alcohol-Impaired Driving.

Pregnant Women
Among pregnant women aged 15 to 44, an estimated 12.1 percent reported current alcohol use and 3.9 percent reported binge drinking. These rates were significantly lower than the rates for nonpregnant women in the same age group (53.1 and 23.3 percent, respectively). Heavy alcohol use was relatively rare (0.7 percent) among pregnant women. All of these estimates are based on data averaged over 2004 and 2005.