  Highlights: Smoking Among Adults in the United States:
Reproductive Health    • Smoking harms many aspects and every
phase of reproduction. Despite having greater increased
knowledge of the adverse health effects of smoking during
pregnancy, many pregnant women and girls continue to smoke
(estimates range from 12% to 22%). It is estimated that only 18%
to 25% quit smoking once they become pregnant. (p. 527)   •
Women who smoke are at an increased risk for infertility.
Studies have shown that smoking makes it more difficult for
women to become pregnant. (p. 534)   • Research also has shown
that smoking during pregnancy causes health problems for both
mothers and babies, such as pregnancy complications, premature
birth, low-birth-weight infants, stillbirth, and infant death.
Low birth weight is a leading cause of infant deaths, resulting
in more than 300,000 deaths annually in the United States. (p.
555, Ventura et al. 2000)   • Once pregnant, women who smoke are
about twice as likely to experience complicati