In many cases an unwanted pregnancy is clearly a matter of contraceptive failure. About 54% of women who have had an abortion were using contraception when they became pregnant (Guttmacher Institute, 2011a). For other women or couples seeking abortions, the pregnancy can be traced to contraceptive risk taking—that is, not using contraceptives consistently or reliably, […]

Choosing to have an abortion is usually a difficult decision for a woman and her partner. It means weighing and examining highly personal values and circumstances. Even when the pregnancy is unwanted, one or both partners may feel loss and sadness. Research found that women who felt that the abortion was not primarily their decision […]

A couple can share responsibility for the decision about whether to have an abortion and for the abortion itself, if that choice is made, in several ways. First, the man can help his partner clarify her feelings and can express his own regarding the unwanted pregnancy and how best to deal with it. Important topics […]

After a woman confirms that she is pregnant (assuming that she was not trying to con­ceive), she must then decide whether to carry the pregnancy and keep the child, give the child up for adoption, or have an abortion. Abortion is a last resort for women who are faced with pregnancies they did not want. […]

In contrast to a spontaneous abortion, an elective abortion involves a decision to ter­minate a pregnancy by using medical procedures. Each year, nearly half of all pregnan­cies of women in the United States are unplanned. Women who are 18 to 24 years old, poor, and cohabiting have two to three times the national rate (Finer […]

Not every pregnancy results in a birth. Many pregnancies end in spontaneous or elec­tive abortion. Miscarriage and Stillbirth Even when pregnancy has been confirmed, complications can prevent full-term devel­opment of the fetus. A miscarriage is a spontaneous abortion that occurs in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy; many occur before the woman finds out that […]

The initial signs of pregnancy can provoke feelings from joy to dread, depending on the woman’s desire to be pregnant, her partner’s feelings, and a variety of surrounding circumstances. Although some women have either a light blood flow or spotting (irreg­ular bleeding) after conception, usually the first indication of pregnancy is the absence of the […]

Assisted reproductive technologies have given rise to unprecedented ethical and legal dilemmas. Extra embryos often result from the assisted reproductive process, and some couples generously put their surplus embryos up for adoption, to be implanted in another woman. Other women and couples donate the embryos for stem-cell research. One study found that 60% of couples […]

Assisted reproductive technologies are expensive. One IVF procedure costs an average of $12,000 and up to $15,000, and more than one attempt is often needed. Donor eggs or sperm, ICSI, and any other additional procedures add to the cost (Gurevich, 2011). Preliminary research on single births has found a twofold increase in heart prob­lems, cleft […]

Various alternatives have been developed to help couples overcome the problem of infertility. Artificial insemination is one option to be considered in certain instances. In this procedure, semen is mechanically introduced into the woman’s vagina or cervix Conceiving Children: process and Choice or, in some cases, directly into her uterus, a procedure called intrauterine insemina­tion. […]