Do Pregnant Women Deserve Special Parking Privileges?

What constitutes a "difficult" pregnancy?  The woman who is hurling multiple times a day? The woman with swollen ankles?  The woman who really has nothing wrong with her except that she's pregnant and likes to use it to get anything she wants?

What needs to happen is a reversal of the "coarsening of society".  I've seen a man offer his seat to a woman he thought was pregnant, only to have that woman give him a never-to-be-forgotten tongue-lashing because she wasn't pregnant, just overweight.  Did she have to do that? No, she could have politely declined.  Can you blame a guy for never offering again? 

Once people get out of their own little selves, and start participating in polite society again, we won't have to have manners legislated for us.  We'll know how to do it on our own.

So I'd vote no on the special seating/parking, if I lived there.

I just moved to London, England from Boston, MA and all of the trains in the tube have signs designating seats for "those less able to stand", that includes disabled, elderly, pregnant, and moms with small children, all illustrated with pictures and via text. I have to say that it's well respected by the people I encounter day to day. I have to imagine the same for the commuter time slots too. NYC should follow London's lead.

Funny... I have to constantly fight with family NOT to be considered crippled by my pregnancy. I can still walk across a parking lot. I can still walk in the mall. I'm 36 weeks pregnant and I do NOT need special treatment. That said, I think it's lovely that the women who DO need the help would be able to get it. As I don't need special privileges, I will not use them. But having seen the absolute hell pregnancy puts on some women, I can't say that this is an unwelcome idea.

I love the parking spots locally here that are for new or expectant mothers, especially in this cold weather. It makes it much easier with little one to not have to walk a half a mile to get in the store. Plus, my pregnancies call for STRICT bed rest after 25 weeks. So If I have to go the store a handicap spot is really beneficial.

I think it's a wonderful idea!  I haven't run across anyone unwilling to give up a seat for a pregnant lady but I live in ohio. :)

On the buses in syracuse new york it's crazy, older men who are sometimes disabled are the chivalrous ones who would let me have a seat while healthy young people never got up.

I think part of the problem is that there are so many obese women. It is often hard to tell if a woman is pregnant or just obese. But as a mom of an 8 month old who is also 29 weeks pregnant with my second child, I need the help. I can walk, yes, but this pregnancy has had a lot of complications and it is getting harder and harder to walk or stand for long periods of time. I have yet to have had a person offer me a seat and oftentimes I even have doors slammed in my face instead of people helping me as I struggle to carry my 8 month old. I think that there are women who should be able to access handicap spaces and such, but I think it should be determined by a doctor. A woman who is high-risk or on bed-rest, should be issued a temporary handicap permit that will allow them to park in the handicapped spots like any other disabled person. I do use the expecting mother spots on base, due to my own health issues, but I often see women who don't have any need for it (and some who I doubt are even pregnant) use them and it is frustrating. I also think that there should be more regulations on the handicapped bathroom stalls (nothing bothers me more than to have to squeeze into a tiny stall and then see a teeny-bopper wander out of the handicapped stall), but that's another issue. :)

I believe all the vulnerable members of our society should be cared for, so yes this is a good idea.

When I was in NYC last I was preg and I just "asked" someone to give me a seat. It was a young guy who was listening to music and he promptly got up as soon as I tapped him and pointed to my belly. I had a difficult preg but not so bad that I had to be on bedrest. We have some places with parking up front for expecting or new mothers and I really appreciate it. Did I "need" those spaces? Some days I did more than others but honestly how much do some "handicapped" people need their spaces? Some of them do, some of them don't. It's about making it available and letting people use their own judgement as to what's right for them. We are, as a whole, an incredibly lazy society. Is it really so hard for adults who are just tired to give up their spaces to those really in need?