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Would vouchers stop pregnant women smoking?

Women smoking outside the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle are asked if they would quit while pregnant if they were to receive shopping vouchers.

One woman said she had "cut right down" on smoking but shopping vouchers "wouldn't persuade" her to quit. She asked, "how could I prove to you that I wasn't smoking?" and said that if she was offered the vouchers, she would "take them and carry on smoking".

Another woman who had also smoked while pregnant asked, "if you can't stop smoking for your child, why would vouchers be an incentive?"

1 in 8 pregnant women in England smokes and the British Medical Journal found that pregnant smokers were more likely to quit if they were offered a financial incentive. The research found that women who were offered up to 400 pounds of shopping vouchers were more likely to give up smoking than those just offered normal NHS support.

This clip is originally from 5 live Breakfast on January 28th 2015.

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