> "Smoking and alcohol are established risk factors for spontaneous abortion, underscoring the importance of the chemical environment during embryonic development." Both of my parents are/were heavy smokers drinkers from their teenage years. Mom died of lung cancer from smoking. Kind of wild to think that the odds were really stacked against my birth.
This is probably one of those things where the risk is normally small, so small increases cause large changes in percentage.
For instance, if spontaneous abortion is normally 1% and smoking increases it to 2%, then that’s a 100% increase. Now, I don’t know the actual numbers, and smoking is just generally not good for one’s health, but I wouldn’t go as far to say things were stacked against you.