The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recently announced new information and recommendations, and you know what that means: Armchair medical professionals have to criticize it. CDC’s latest release deals with alcohol and pregnancy, and feminists all over the internet are claiming it’s full of victim blaming.

Addressing issues with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs), CDC pointed out that approximately 3 million U.S. women are at risk of exposing developing babies to alcohol due to drinking while unknowingly pregnant. The study states that about half of all pregnancies are unplanned. Even women who are planning to get pregnant do not know they are until about 4-6 weeks in.

So far, so good. Nothing too controversial here. Then CDC included this graphic:

And all hell broke loose.

Victim Blaming?

A lot of Social Justice Warriors (SJWs) are claiming that the above infographic is blaming women for the sexual assault, rape, STIs and unwanted pregnancies that may occur as a result of drinking.

The #CDC‘s incredibly condescending warning to young #women#rapeculture #victimblaming https://t.co/CrfDsV8cC6

— Jennifer Weggeman (@_FindYourEdge) February 6, 2016

But nowhere in the infographic or the study does it blame the victim. CDC is simply stating factual information based on data compiled. To imply that CDC is victim-blaming is nothing more than an interpretation of the facts presented.

It is a fact that women are more vulnerable to physical/sexual assaults after drinking. It is a fact that women are more likely to have unprotected sex after drinking. WHY those stats are factual is another question. A question that CDC has no interest in for the purpose of its PSA. We can extrapolate all sorts of theories ranging from #RapeCulture to victim blaming, and it’s up to politicians and other professionals to figure out and deal with.

However, CDC is comprised of medical professionals. These experts are interested in what is happening and how to prevent it. Again, they’re not experts about why this is happening. Therefore, recommending birth control for women who plan on drinking but don’t plan on getting pregnant is not victim blaming. It’s sound medical advice based on the current situation.

Shame on you, @CDCgov. The fact that women can drink is NOT what causes violence against women. #CDC #rapeculture pic.twitter.com/sa8jN3xSyP

— Becky Stone (@DiamondsintheLi) February 4, 2016

You’re right, Becky! But you emphasized the incorrect word. The tweet should read “The fact that women can drink is not what CAUSES violence against women,” because CDC never implied causation. NEWSFLASH: There is a difference between causation and correlation. One is victim blaming. The other is an unfortunate fact. CDC’s Vital Signs study is based on the latter.

CDC could have easily recommended men to stop raping and taking advantage of women who are drinking, except that’s not their place. They are medical professionals, not social commentators. Men are certainly to blame equally if not more for this correlation between drinking and abuse, pregnancy and STIs. But measures to prevent that behavior is not what CDC does.

The Vital Signs study being questioned was comprised by some of the best medical professionals in the country if not the world. The fact that SJWs are questioning the integrity, meaning and information of people who know more about medical issues than you do about anything is asinine.

Women are advised to stop drinking if not using birth control. SJWs claim that’s victim blaming. Given the facts, regardless of context of the situations, that is a logical recommendation. CDC is not saying women can’t drink without getting pregnant. What they are saying is that there is a positive correlation between drinking and unwanted pregnancies. Given that scientific fact, the recommendation is logical.

Bottom line: Medical professionals trying to help society are under attack by SJWs because of a completely unintended interpretation of the data. We are close to living in a world where medical experts will need lawyers and a PR team to approve all studies and research. That is not a healthy society to live in.