Sex and America's Teenagers

Sex and America's Teenagers
Author: Alan Guttmacher Institute
Publisher: Alan Guttmacher Institute
Total Pages: 92
Release: 1994
Genre: Psychology
ISBN:

Although sexual activity is common among teenagers, it is not as widespread, and does not begin as early, as most adults believe. This report provides detailed data and analysis of sex among adolescents. Adolescent sexual activity is grouped in ten categories: (1) Rites of passage; (2) The context of adolescents' lives; (3) Sex among teenagers; (4) Risks and prevention of unintended pregnancy and STDs; (5) Incidence and consequences of STDs; (6) Adolescent pregnancy; (7) Outcomes of adolescent pregnancies; (8) Adolescent mothers and their children; (9) Organized responses to adolescent sexual and reproductive behavior; and (10) Where do we go from here? Although young people's sexual behavior today is broadly seen as problematic, no consensus exists as to what the problem is. Most adolescents have always experienced sex, but in the past it was closely linked to marriage, especially for young women. However, over the last century, puberty has slowly moved to earlier ages, as has the initiation of sexual activity, while marriage has been postponed to later years. Adolescents live in a more diverse country than the one their parents knew -- society, family, violence, and sexual messages differ dramatically from the standards of the previous generation. Included in this booklet are numerous graphs. Citations appear for all data. (Contains over 200 references.) (RJM)

The Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the United States

The Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the United States
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 223
Release: 2018-06-24
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309468183

Abortion is a legal medical procedure that has been provided to millions of American women. Since the Institute of Medicine first reviewed the health implications of national legalized abortion in 1975, there has been a plethora of related scientific research, including well-designed randomized clinical trials, systematic reviews, and epidemiological studies examining abortion care. This research has focused on examining the relative safety of abortion methods and the appropriateness of methods for different clinical circumstances. With this growing body of research, earlier abortion methods have been refined, discontinued, and new approaches have been developed. The Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the United States offers a comprehensive review of the current state of the science related to the provision of safe, high-quality abortion services in the United States. This report considers 8 research questions and presents conclusions, including gaps in research.

The Best Intentions

The Best Intentions
Author: Committee on Unintended Pregnancy
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 393
Release: 1995-06-16
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309556376

Experts estimate that nearly 60 percent of all U.S. pregnancies--and 81 percent of pregnancies among adolescents--are unintended. Yet the topic of preventing these unintended pregnancies has long been treated gingerly because of personal sensitivities and public controversies, especially the angry debate over abortion. Additionally, child welfare advocates long have overlooked the connection between pregnancy planning and the improved well-being of families and communities that results when children are wanted. Now, current issues--health care and welfare reform, and the new international focus on population--are drawing attention to the consequences of unintended pregnancy. In this climate The Best Intentions offers a timely exploration of family planning issues from a distinguished panel of experts. This committee sheds much-needed light on the questions and controversies surrounding unintended pregnancy. The book offers specific recommendations to put the United States on par with other developed nations in terms of contraceptive attitudes and policies, and it considers the effectiveness of over 20 pregnancy prevention programs. The Best Intentions explores problematic definitions--"unintended" versus "unwanted" versus "mistimed"--and presents data on pregnancy rates and trends. The book also summarizes the health and social consequences of unintended pregnancies, for both men and women, and for the children they bear. Why does unintended pregnancy occur? In discussions of "reasons behind the rates," the book examines Americans' ambivalence about sexuality and the many other social, cultural, religious, and economic factors that affect our approach to contraception. The committee explores the complicated web of peer pressure, life aspirations, and notions of romance that shape an individual's decisions about sex, contraception, and pregnancy. And the book looks at such practical issues as the attitudes of doctors toward birth control and the place of contraception in both health insurance and "managed care." The Best Intentions offers frank discussion, synthesis of data, and policy recommendations on one of today's most sensitive social topics. This book will be important to policymakers, health and social service personnel, foundation executives, opinion leaders, researchers, and concerned individuals. May

Safe Abortion

Safe Abortion
Author: World Health Organization
Publisher: World Health Organization
Total Pages: 107
Release: 2003-05-13
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9241590343

At a UN General Assembly Special Session in 1999, governments recognised unsafe abortion as a major public health concern, and pledged their commitment to reduce the need for abortion through expanded and improved family planning services, as well as ensure abortion services should be safe and accessible. This technical and policy guidance provides a comprehensive overview of the many actions that can be taken in health systems to ensure that women have access to good quality abortion services as allowed by law.

Abortion Worldwide

Abortion Worldwide
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 64
Release: 2009
Genre: Abortion
ISBN: 9780939253821

"This report assesses progress over the past decade regarding the legality, safety and accessibility of abortion services worldwide. It summarizes developments in policy and documents recent trends in abortion incidence, with a focus on unsafe abortion. It also examines the relationship between unintended pregnancy, contraception and abortion, placing abortion within the broader context of women's reproductive lives." - p. 4.

Contraceptive Research and Development

Contraceptive Research and Development
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 534
Release: 1996-11-04
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309175658

The "contraceptive revolution" of the 1960s and 1970s introduced totally new contraceptive options and launched an era of research and product development. Yet by the late 1980s, conditions had changed and improvements in contraceptive products, while very important in relation to improved oral contraceptives, IUDs, implants, and injectables, had become primarily incremental. Is it time for a second contraceptive revolution and how might it happen? Contraceptive Research and Development explores the frontiers of science where the contraceptives of the future are likely to be found and lays out criteria for deciding where to make the next R&D investments. The book comprehensively examines today's contraceptive needs, identifies "niches" in those needs that seem most readily translatable into market terms, and scrutinizes issues that shape the market: method side effects and contraceptive failure, the challenge of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, and the implications of the "women's agenda." Contraceptive Research and Development analyzes the response of the pharmaceutical industry to current dynamics in regulation, liability, public opinion, and the economics of the health sector and offers an integrated set of recommendations for public- and private-sector action to meet a whole new generation of demand.

Science and Babies

Science and Babies
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 183
Release: 1990-02-01
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309041368

By all indicators, the reproductive health of Americans has been deteriorating since 1980. Our nation is troubled by rates of teen pregnancies and newborn deaths that are worse than almost all others in the Western world. Science and Babies is a straightforward presentation of the major reproductive issues we face that suggests answers for the public. The book discusses how the clash of opinions on sex and family planning prevents us from making a national commitment to reproductive health; why people in the United States have fewer contraceptive choices than those in many other countries; what we need to do to improve social and medical services for teens and people living in poverty; how couples should "shop" for a fertility service and make consumer-wise decisions; and what we can expect in the futureâ€"featuring interesting accounts of potential scientific advances.

Risking the Future

Risking the Future
Author: Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 352
Release: 1987-02-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309036984

More than 1 million teenage girls in the United States become pregnant each year; nearly half give birth. Why do these young people, who are hardly more than children themselves, become parents? This volume reviews in detail the trends in and consequences of teenage sexual behavior and offers thoughtful insights on the issues of sexual initiation, contraception, pregnancy, abortion, adoption, and the well-being of adolescent families. It provides a systematic assessment of the impact of various programmatic approaches, both preventive and ameliorative, in light of the growing scientific understanding of the topic.

Abortion Politics, Mass Media, and Social Movements in America

Abortion Politics, Mass Media, and Social Movements in America
Author: Deana A. Rohlinger
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 187
Release: 2015
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1107069238

Weaving together analyses of archival material, news coverage, and interviews conducted with journalists from mainstream and partisan outlets as well as with activists across the political spectrum, Deana A. Rohlinger reimagines how activists use a variety of mediums, sometimes simultaneously, to agitate for - and against - legal abortion. Rohlinger's in-depth portraits of four groups - the National Right to Life Committee, Planned Parenthood, the National Organization for Women, and Concerned Women for America - illuminates when groups use media and why they might choose to avoid media attention altogether. Rohlinger expertly reveals why some activist groups are more desperate than others to attract media attention and sheds light on what this means for policy making and legal abortion in the twenty-first century.