What constitutes a sexual dysfunction? Not being able to get an erection one night? Experiencing difficulties having an orgasm during sexual intercourse? Having no sexual desire for your partner? Do sexual dysfunctions have to happen for extended periods of time, or do they happen only once in a while? There are many types of sexual […]

Each year in the United States, 1 million teenagers become pregnant, and 85% of these pregnancies are unintended (Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1999c). Many states have passed laws that control teenagers’ access to abortion. For instance, some states require parental notification or parental consent. However, studies have shown that in states without mandatory parental consent or […]

A woman’s choice to have an abortion forces a couple to reevaluate their relationship and ask themselves some difficult questions. Do we both feel the same about each other? Is this relationship serious? Where is this relationship going? Keeping the lines of com­munication open during this time is very important. Some studies claim that abortion […]

y boyfriend, Jeff, and I had been sexually active for about two years and were using /v (s condoms for protection. However, one night after a party, we had been drinking and for­got to use a rubber About three weeks later, my period was late. . . . When I found out my preg­nancy test […]

In the late 1980s, President Ronald Reagan asked Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop to prepare a report on the physical aftereffects of women who have undergone elective abortions. The Surgeon General reported that scientific studies had documented that physiological health consequences—including infertility, incompetent cervix, miscar­riage, premature birth, and low birth weight—are no more frequent […]

Although 88% of abortions are done in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, approximately 11% occur during the second trimester (Elam-Evans et al., 2002). There may be several reasons for this, including medical complications, fetal deformities that were not revealed earlier, divorce or marital problems, miscalculation of date of last menstrual period, finan­cial or geographic […]

A first-trimester abortion (vacuum aspiration, or suction abortion) is usually performed on an outpatient basis, using local anesthesia. This is the most common type of abortion procedure in the United States today and accounts for 88% of all abortions (F. H. Stewart, Ellertson, & Cates, 2004). In this procedure, a woman lies on an examining […]

Many people claim that women have abortions because they do not use contraception. However, studies indicate that 54% of women who had an abortion had been using a con­traceptive method the month they became pregnant (R. K. Jones, Darroch, & Henshaw, 2002a). Some of these women were using methods incorrectly or inconsistently. In fact, only […]

strictions for women who choose to have an abortion. The most common restrictions in­clude waiting periods, mandatory counseling, parental involvement requirements, and public funding limitations. In July 1994, the Supreme Court upheld a decision (Madison v. Women’s Health Center, Inc.) barring antiabortion demonstrators from getting within 36 feet of an abor­tion clinic. This ruling was […]

Abortion has been practiced in many societies throughout history; in fact, there are few large-scale societies in which it has not been practiced (see Chapter 1). Aristotle argued that abortion was necessary as a backup to contraception. He believed that a fetus was not alive until certain organs had been formed; for males, at 40 […]