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How about going childfree? Click to enlarge |
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"All couples and
individuals have the right to decide freely and responsibly the number and
spacing of their children and to have access to the information and means
to do so."
A century ago, women feared dying in childbirth and yet could do little to control conception. The Comstock laws clamped down on freedom of information by making it a crime to send "obscene" material through the mail, including birth control information and devices. In 1916, Margaret Sanger was arrested for distributing diaphragms. In the 10 days her Brooklyn clinic was open, she fitted 488 women with diaphragms, an indication of women's unmet need to control pregnancy. Legal abortion wasn't even on the agenda. ..February 23, 2000 Chicago Tribune
Planned Parenthood Condoms
Wal-Mart and the 'Morning-after-Pill'
Wal-Mart does NOT sell the 'morning-after-pill' even with a prescription. I believe they have adopted this policy because they consider this a type of abortion.I, like Wal-mart, am opposed to abortion but do not consider the pre-blastula a 'human'. A 'person' might start with the fetus stage but definitely not before. Maybe Wal-mart wants us to return to the Dark Ages with coat-hangers.
During WWII I was a medic and saw a lot of injuries and blood and death.. After the war while going to college I worked on an ambulance at a local hospital. At that time in Massachusettes contraceptives and abortions were illegal. Yes, it was illegal for a Doctor to tell a women how NOT to have a baby and abortion was a criminal procedure. I call it the Dark Ages.
The ambulance picked up cases that I had never seen in the Navy---young women in puddles of blood. Young girls that tried to abort themselves with coat hangers--terrible! terrible! terrible!!! I became a lifetime supporter of Planned Parenthood. They were/are doing something to prevent the need for coat hangers with sex education and making contraceptives available.
I suggest Wal-mart re-think it's policy on the 'morning-after-pill'---PLEASE, no returning to coat hangers!
Bill Denneen, Nipomo,CA
Continuous Abstinence | Outercourse | Sterilization |Vasectomy | Norplant | Depo-Provera | Intrauterine Device (I.U.D.) | The Pill | The Condom | Diaphragm | Cervical Cap | Withdrawal | Over-the-Counter Methods for Women | Periodic Abstinence | Fertility Awareness | Emergency Contraception
The median age at which US women have their last wanted child is 26.9 years
and 75 percent of all women have all the children they want by age 30. Even
a contraceptive method with an annual failure rate of one percent that is
used from age 30 to age 45 will leave one woman in seven with an unintended
pregnancy. In the U.S., There are not as many birth control choices as it
may seem. Oral contraceptives are prescribed for women under age 30 because
of cardiovascular side effects of the pill among women over age 35. Misinformation
about possible health effects of the pill discourages many young women from
using it. Because of side effects, IUDs today are being prescribed only for
women in mutually monogamous relationships who have at least one child. Condom
and diaphragm are less effective and are less desirable to young couples.
American women often have long intervals during which they are not protected
against the possibility of pregnancy. Over 50% of them have unintended pregnancies,
and the U.S. has a higher rate of abortions than most other industrialized
countries.The Alan Guttmacher Institute 1988
Johnson & Johnson Developing a Birth Control Patch The half dollar sized birth control patch, called Evra, can be worn for up to one week. It must be worn on the abdomen, buttocks, or arm. It contains the same active ingredients as the pill and appears to be just as effective. FDA approval is expected early next year. It may help to eliminate the problem of missing a pill and increasing the risk of pregnancy. Nausea would be diminished since drugs administered through the skin do not pass through the digestive system and since the patch releases a steady stream of drugs through the skin. But excessive sweating or frequent showers may interfere with the patch's adhesion. Johnson & Johnson is the largest producer of oral contraceptives. 1999 National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association
Female Condom: Ghana Marks Introduction Of Contraceptive. The female condom was introduced in Ghana last month, marking the culmination of a venture between the country's Ministry of Health and other international and local organizations, including the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the Ghana Social Marketing Foundation and the Society of Women and AIDS in Africa. Ghana's first lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings said that the female condom offers women control over their reproductive health. Women have trouble getting their partners to use male condoms. More than 3,000 medical and non-medical health providers have been trained to offer the female condom. June 1, 2000 Female Health Company release
Sterilization Leading Form of Birth Control in US. Tubal ligation and vasectomy are more popular than the birth control pill, and, surprisingly, one third of all tubal ligations performed are done on single women. At the time of sterilization, women had an average age of 30 and 2-3 children. 11,000,000 US women of reproductive age have undergone tubal ligation, while only 4.21 million American women have a partner who has had a vasectomy. The 10-year cumulative failure rate of of tubal ligations are only 18.5 per 1,000 women, but for these failures, the risk for ectopic (or tubal) pregnancies was high. May 5, 2000 Reuters Health
As The
Pill Turns 40, More Women Than Ever Use It Forty years after
oral contraceptives were first introduced on May 9, 1960, more than 100 million
women rely on them, making them the most popular contraceptive method in
78 of 150 surveyed countries, according to a new report from the Johns Hopkins
School of Public Health. Outside of China and India, the pill is the most
popular contraceptive method, used by some 12% of married women, according
to the latest issue of Population Reports, the quarterly journal published
by the Johns Hopkins Population Information Program. (In China and India family
planning programs have emphasized long-term or permanent methods.) Outside
Eastern Europe and Asia, an estimated 36% of sexually active unmarried women
in developed countries use this method. For country-by-country statistics
on oral contraceptive use, go to http://www.jhuccp.org/pr/a9/a9suptab.stm
May 2, 2000 World Watch
U.S. Pregnancy Rate Hits Low.
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the number of pregnancies
fell 9% from 1990 and reached its lowest level, 6,240,000, since 1976. 62%
ended in births, 22% in abortions and 16% in miscarriage. The pregnancy rate
declined for all women under 30, with the sharpest drop coming among teen-agers,
down 15% from its 1991 record high. The birth rate for married women was
almost 10 times the abortion rate, while the birth and abortion rates for
unmarried women were nearly equal. Abortions have dropped by 16%, and fetal
deaths by 4%. According to the report, there are dramatic differences in
pregnancy rates by race and ethnicity - Hispanic women want, and have, more
babies than either white or black women. Overall, the average U.S. birth
rate is 2.0, out of a total of total of 3.2 pregnancies each, with only 1.8
of the pregnancies planned. December 14, 1999 AP
The Sponge Returns Increased
Efforts to Support Contraceptive Care. A formally popular birth control
method, the Today Sponge, may soon be back on drugstore shelves. Five years
ago the sponge was removed from store shelves because manufacturing plants
had high levels of bacteria. The patent was purchased by Allendale Pharmaceutical
Company. FDA approval of the proposed new plant and packaging is pending.
A high demand for the sponge is expected: it can be purchased without a prescription,
is portable, and can remain in the vagina for up to 24 hours. However, it
is only 90.8% effective and does not protect against STDs. April 10, 2000 SIECUS
Beyond the Pill.
Birth control may not change much in the future due to cost of research,
changing attitudes and physiological complexities that may limit innovations
and choices. The birth control pill was approved in 1960. The diaphragm and
the intrauterine device - fell to all-time lows between 1988 and 1995. New
on the scene is Lunelle, a monthly injectable contraceptive that contains
both estrogen and progestin. The manufacturers, hope that community health
clinics will have nurses to administer the shots, perhaps leading to pharmacy
chains hiring nurses to give in-store shots. Other new forms of contraception
include a hormonal skin patch called Evra, vaginal rings, a new "morning-after"
emergency pill and non-allergenic condoms made of polyvinylchloride, and
a birth control pill that contains melatonin instead of estrogen. The Today
Sponge will be available from a new company perhaps as early as May. The
problem with a male birth control pill is that men are fertile all the time,
constantly producing sperm. To interfere with that process, a male contraceptive
pill (or injection) would also have to suppress testosterone production.
Researchers are also considering ways to use antibodies to attack egg or
sperm, or gonadotropin-releasing hormones to suppress other hormones that
trigger ovulation and sperm development. February
9, 2000 St. Petersburg Times
September 28, 2000 - Mifepristone Approved
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given final approval to Mifepristone
- also known as RU-486 or the "abortion pill". Mifepristone allows women
to induce abortion in the privacy of their own homes during the first month
and a half of pregnancy. The drug can be provided by physicians and supervised
health care professionals who don't otherwise provide surgical abortions
and allows women to avoid the gauntlet of protesters and harassment at clinics.
For details about the approval and use of Mifepristone, visit http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/mifepristone/default.htm
...ZPG Sept. 2000
Mifepristone first became available over 10 years ago in France and is currently available in 13 countries. Estimates show that over 500,000 women in Europe and Asia have used mifepristone, and 9,000 U.S. women have used it in clinical trials prior to FDA approval. During U.S. mifepristone trials, 0.5% of the women who used the drug required additional medical treatment Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 10/7/00
RU-486 - The Abortion Pill.
Ten years after it was introduced in Europe, the abortion pill mifepristone,
known as RU 486, may soon be available in the United States. Clinical trials
have been completed and the FDA may release it by the end of January. The
pill may ultimately take away some of the steam in the national debate over
abortion - because any doctor can prescribe the medication, which is taken
during the first seven weeks of pregnancy in the privacy of a woman's own
home. There will be no clinics to picket, and the pill is taken in the first
stage of pregnancy, which most Americans find acceptable. The Pope called
it "the pill of Cain--the monster that cynically kills its brothers." In
1994, French manufacturer Roussel-Uclaf donated its U.S. rights to the Population
Council, a not-for-profit research organization. A woman is only given the
pill if she is determined to be pregnant, usually determined by a sonogram.
In early pregnancy, the embryo is the size of a grain of rice. The so-called
morning-after pills Preven and Plan B are not the same as the abortion pill
- they are emergency contraceptives that can be used for up to three days
after an unprotected act of intercourse, before pregnancy begins. December 13, 1999 People
'The Pill': Better Late Than Never; Many Unaware of Emergency Contraception.
Some say that the condom broke or slipped off. Others explain they
aren't very sexually active and weren't prepared. But at the Planned Parenthood
clinic, women can get four specially formulated birth control pills - two
to take immediately and two to take in 12 hours. If taken within 72 hours
of sexual intercourse, those pills are 75 - 86% effective, which means for
every 100 women taking emergency contraception following a single unprotected
sexual encounter during the most fertile phase of their menstrual cycle,
two, rather than the expected eight, will become pregnant. The Preven emergency
contraception kit, includes a pregnancy test and four birth control pills.
A newer pill, Plan B, relies solely on the hormone progestin. Both are different
from the abortion pill, mifepristone, or RU-486, which is not available in
the United States and is designed for use only after pregnancy is confirmed.
Emergency contraception pills won't trigger an abortion if the fertilized
egg has already implanted in the uterine wall. The copper intrauterine device
can also block pregnancy following unprotected sex when inserted by up to
five days after intercourse. Emergency contraception is expected to eliminate
as many as 800,000 abortions. Only 28% of U.S. women ages 18-44 know that
emergency contraception is available. In Washington, the pills are now available
from trained pharmacists without a doctor's prescription. Where to get help:
the emergency contraception hotline, (888) Not-2-Late sponsored by the Reproductive
Health Technologies Project ... Princeton University's Office of Population
Research Web site: http://opr.princeton.edu/ec ... The Henry J. Kaiser
Family Foundation web site at http://www.kff.org Click on the reproductive
and sexual health section ... The American Medical Women's Association Web
site http://www.amwa-doc.org and click on the sex and sensibility section.
November 15, 1999 The Commercial Appeal
'Foolproof' Birth-Control Implant Lasts 3 Years Implanon, a
matchstick-sized device which is inserted into the upper arm, releases hormones
into the bloodstream over three years, and is said to be extremely effective
and with few side effects. A hormone called progestin is released, which
fools the body into thinking that pregnancy has already occurred so that
normal ovulation is suspended. The device is said to be better than Norplant,
which required six rods to be inserted in the arm and was said to cause skin
problems, hair loss and mood swings. November 8, 1999 Associated
Newspapers Ltd.
'100% Success' for Male Pill Trial Clinical trials in Scotland,
China, South Africa and Nigeria of a male contraceptive pill suggest it is
100% effective, with no harmful consequences, and could be available within
five years, Edinburgh University scientists say. The contraceptive, developed
by Dutch firm Organon, introduces the male sex hormone testosterone and desogestrel
which stop the production of sperm into the blood stream. July 20, 2000 BBC News
Men Should Share Birth Control Burden - Untapped Demand for Male Pill. Researchers have been focusing on two methods: stopping sperm production and rendering sperm useless to fertilize an egg. This has to be done without lowering muscle mass, HDL (good) cholesterol levels, libido, and other testosterone-related benefits. One researcher is working on an implant and testosterone patch that, used together, will suppress sperm production while maintaining male hormone levels. A patch to be worn on the upper arm that releases a sperm-clocking synthetic steroid has been developed by The Population Council. A four-week study shows that this method may be safe and effective. But U.S. pharmaceutical companies do not seem to want to invest significantly in male birth control research. According to the World Health Organization, men would prefer a male pill or injection over condom use or vasectomies, which are the only two choices for men. USA Today September 2, 1999
Why Norplant, a Safe Contraceptive, Has Been Bombarded by Lawsuits. From
the September issue of Glamour magazine: due to the numerous lawsuits, pharmaceutical
companies may become wary about researching and developing new methods of
birth control. Cross-examined plaintiffs admitted that symptoms had existed
prior to their getting the device, or stemmed from other causes, or that
they continued wearing the device, or never mentioned to their doctors that
they were having problems. August 10, 1999 Healthwire
Preven(tm) Emergency Contraceptive Kit Prevents Chemical Abortion
Each PREVEN(TM) Kit includes a pregnancy test, to reassure a woman that she
is not pregnant from a previous sexual encounter when she uses the emergency
contraception. Started as soon as possible within 72 hours after sex, the
Prevent pills prevent pregnancy by delaying or preventing the release of
an egg. It is not an "abortion pill" because if a woman is already pregnant,
emergency contraceptive pills will have no effect. July 28, 1999 PR Newswire
Previn Sometimes mistaken for RU- 486 - the so-called abortion pill which is still illegal in the U.S. - Preven is usually 4 regular birth-control pills packaged together, along with a home pregnancy test. The pills are to be taken 2 at a time, 12 hours apart, within 72 hours of unprotected sex. It is considered about 75% effective. It was designed to block pregnancy by stopping ovulation, but if fertilization has already occurred, Preven will prevent implantation in the uterus of the fertilized egg, preventing the continuation of pregnancy.
New, Once-A-Month Injectable Contraceptive Shows No Unintended Pregnancies in Clinical Study LUNELLE(TM), under development by Pharmacia & Upjohn was compared to a popular oral contraceptive in a study of 1,103 women. The 782 women taking LUNELLE(TM) reported no unintended pregnancies.
Contraceptives Fail in 9-12 Percent of Women per year, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute and a team at Princeton University The implant and injectables have the lowest failure rates (2 to 3 %), followed by the pill (8%), the diaphragm and cervical cap (12%), the male condom (14%), periodic abstinence (21%), withdrawal (24%) and spermicides (26%). Over a lifetime use of contraceptives, women on average have 1.8 accidental pregnancies and 48% of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended. Apr 20, 1999 Reuters
About 9 percent of all women who start using a reversible method of contraception get pregnant in the first year of use. "The typical woman who uses reversible methods of contraception continuously from her 15th to her 45th birthday will experience 1.8 contraceptive failures. Alan Guttmacher Institute .. March 1999 issue of Family Planning Perspectives.
Women's Use and Attitudes about Birth Control 80% of women who take oral contraceptives would prefer a monthly contraceptive option. The pill is banned in Japan - only 4% of Japanese women have ever used the pill compared to 95% of French women. 97% of Japanese women used male condoms as birth control. 56% of American women used abstinence as a form of birth control at some point. Intrauterine devices (IUDs) are used by 31% in France, and by 6% in the US. The withdrawal method is used by 56% in Japan, 47% in Italy, and 40% in the US. May 6 1999 PR Newswire
Non-Surgical Sterilization: Miracle or Menance?
Jan 7 99 the Associated Press posted a story about the Indian government's ban of quinacrine (the chemical sterilization agent). The article said doctors in India were baffled and angered by the government decision since the chemical made sterilization more accessible to poor women. However, women's groups and other doctors countered that the drug was "a perfect example of how poor, uneducated women can be misled about medical treatment." The ease with which quinacrine sterilization can be performed by non-doctors means that women might not receive full medical advice about the procedure. Doctors said this risk must be weighed against the higher risk of women dying from pregnancy-related complications. The article noted that the Indian government has been "cautious in its approach to family planning programs since it was criticized for its mass population control program in the 1970s."
Group Seeks Review of Quinacrine Sterilization Drug. Mar 99 Inter Press Service Population Institute, a group advocating population stabilization, wants further testing of the sterilization drug quinacrine. If given a clean bill of health, quinacrine would provide a low-cost, non-surgical sterilization method. However, quinacrine sterilizations are banned in the U.S and there is some evidence of carcinogens. To accomplish sterilization, pellets of quinacrine are inserted into the uterus near the fallopian tubes, burning and scaring the tubes' lining, creating a blockage that prevents pregnancy. 3 million U.S. servicemen took quinacrine for malaria and other parasitic disease prevention. After a 50 year follow-up, no clusters of cancer have been attributed to quinacrine. Contraceptive use is now estimated at 70% in developed countries and about 55% in developing countries.
The story behind the quinacrine controversy.
Population Institute supports quinacrine clinical studies
Quinacrine protest to PPFA (Planned Parenthood) -Quinacrine usage has been abused.
Family Health International position on quinacrine.
Sylphion
The plant Sylphion was quite popular in ancient Greece among women. They
devoured it because it was an effective contraceptive. It allowed them to
plan their families long before the introduction of the pill or condoms.
Then Greek men, sensing a market for this wonder plant, over-harvested it
for trade, and it became extinct. The plant was so popular it was featured
on ancient Greek coins.
| Female Sterilization | 27.7% |
| Pill | 26.9% |
| Condom | 20.4% |
| Male Sterilization | 10.9% |
| Withdrawal, Injectable, Implant, IUD, Diaphram, Female Condom, Periodic Abstinence | all less than 3.2% |
| Other | 1.6% |
Among men in the United States, average sperm counts per milliliter of semen have dropped from 120 million in 1940 to just under 50 million in 1998. Counts in the European countries indicate a similar decline. The principal explanation for this is the so-called endocrine disruption hypothesis, namely that chemicals in the environment act as "environmental estrogens." These imitators of this basic female hormone-found in plastics, pesticides, and industrial pollutants-may adversely affect male reproductive functioning, among other things.
"It is ironic that countries
that have the highest rate of teen pregnancies, such as the US and UK, also
emphasize abstinence the most."
Programs that promote abstinence as a way to delay sexual intercourse as
well as provide accurate information on contraception as a means to protect
against unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases have the best
chance of success.David J. Landry, an author
of a study for The Alan Guttmacher Institute
Family planning alternatives that do not interfere with the development of a human from fertilized egg on: delaying of marriage, abstinence, fertility timing, 'safe sex', condoms, female condoms, spermacidal foam, diaphrams. Remember that 'unnatural' describes modern medicine and improved water supplies as well as modern methods of birth control.
Family Health - natural family planning and lactational amenorrhea method
Note to Religious Reproductionists:
If everyone had as many children as they could, the population today would
be 10 billion or more, not almost 6 billion. In the days before modern medicine
and clean water, the infant mortality rate was higher and so more children
were necessary then. Do you really believe that God will provide enough food,
clean water, and clean air for everyone? People are already starving in many
parts of the world because farmland is being divided up into smaller and
smaller pieces. Do you believe that the earth is infinite? Have you read
the lesson of Easter Island?
If you play with fire and it gets out of hand, do you expect God to come
along and rescue you, or do you take responsibility for your own life? Please,
'children of God', all parents want their children to grow up and act responsibly!
Requires incentives or motivation:
Requires education and incentives or motivation:
Requires government or agency financial aid and incentives/motivation:
Ways to accomplish motivation and incentives:
Men's Participation Oct 98 from the John Hopkin's Center on Communications: Men are more interested in family planning than assumed, but need services directed specifically to men. Understanding the balancing of power between men and women can improve reproductive health behavior. One billion young men are ages 10-19. Most sexual activity occurs within marriage, but the age of marriage has been rising while the age of sexual initiation has been lowering, putting young people at risk for pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease. Age of puberty for boys has declined over the years to ages 9 to 14.
Surveys in Morocco, Pakistan, Egypt, Bangladesh, and sub-Saharan Africa show that 70% - 90% of men approve of family planning. Recommended strategies:
- Build on men's approval of family planning.
- Use the mass media to communicate with men.
- Reach out to young and unmarried men.
- Understand the influence of gender.
- Encourage couple communication.
- Bring information to where men gather.
- Inform men about condoms and vasectomy.
- Counsel men with respect and sensitivity.
- Offer men a range of health services.
From Family Health International In Kenya, Morocco, Pakistan, Egypt and Bangladesh less than 1/2 to 1/3 of men want to have another child. HIV and other STDs have made men more aware of protection such as condoms.
Rand Issue Paper Reasons for expanding family programs: fertility rates still high, population momentum strong - increases the next 25-50 years, possible weakening of family programs, widespread preference for smaller families in developing countries, access to contraception will reduce abortions. Common barriers to the use of contraception: lack of knowledge about contraceptive methods and availability, and concern about health effects
Colombia's Profamilia founded in 1965 ... a pioneer in many techniques -- the use of radio to promote family planning, a network of trained volunteers offering contraceptives and information door to door, mobile sterilization vans and now special clinics for men. Pills and condoms can be found in the most remote Colombian village. With grants from the Dutch Government and the United Nations, Profamilia is now training others.
Brazil and television. Brazil has a lower birth rate than its richer and better-educated neighbors. The spread of television with the nightly telenovelas (soap operas) has provided the poor, with their first glimpse of small, less authoritarian families and of consumer culture. Women realized they could choose fewer children, and that children had a cost. New York Times, June 13, 1999
Zimbabwe: Battling AIDS in Africa by Empowering Women In Africa, AIDS is mainly heterosexually transmitted and 25 to 30% of the population is infected with H.I.V. Dr. Nancy Padian, an epidemiologist and director of research for the AIDS Research Institute of the University of California at San Francisco, has found that persuading people to use condoms is far easier than originally thought: more than half the uninfected women who come to regular family planning clinics in Harare are able to persuade their male partners to use them. Padian is also trying to encourage them to use female methods of contraception: female condoms, spermicides, diaphragms. Women are taught to negotiate strategies. In role-playing strategies they are presented with obstacles and have to work out ways to overcome them. They are encouraged to talk about sexual activity with their partners, and taught that these discussions are healthy. Factors contributing to the higher susceptibility to AIDS are: the higher prevalence of other sexually transmitted diseases, the lack of male circumcision, (a factor in the man's susceptibility) and poor health due to infection from parasites, poor nutrition, etc. African men often have multiple partners and still have their monogamous partner. Women are generally monogamous with the exception of those in the sex trade. Another factor is the practice of "dry sex," which women believe that men prefer. Micro loans, which are small loans to women to help them start businesses of their own, economically empower women, which helps them negotiate sexual activity. August 22, 2000 New York Times
Group to Pay Addicts to Take Birth Control. A California-based
group, Children Requiring A Caring Kommunity (CRACK), will make a provocative
offer to Washington's drug addicts: obtain long-term birth control and get
$200 in cash. Placards advertising the program will be placed in 500 Metro
buses. The Washington DC effort will be headed by Melanie Folstad, who adopted
a low birth-weight baby delivered by a drug-addicted D.C. woman who was being
held in jail. The campaign started in Anaheim and has spread city by city
to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, Seattle, Kansas City, Chicago and
other cities. The program has been called simplistic, racist and dehumanizing,
taking advantage of drug abusers with mental illnesses, making them even
more vulnerable to the influence of easy cash. 236 women and one man have
collected the reward so far. Barbara Harris, the group's founder, figures
the program is trading a small sum to pay to avoid the greater cost of coping
with abandoned children. Most of CRACK's board members are black. Harris
is married to a black man with whom she raised six biracial children before
adopting four African American siblings of the same drug-addicted mother.
Folstad's adoptive son and two other children she is now adopting are African
American. Planned Parenthood says that "We believe that any program that
offers cash as an incentive to take birth control or become sterilized is
inherently coercive." Harris wonders how "vulnerable women can make a rational
decision to have a free abortion when they are under the influence of drugs?"
The program rewarded 237 drug addicts, whose history before treatment revealed
1,501 pregnancies, 527 of which ended in abortion. Of the 966 completed pregnancies,
117 infants were stillborn and 39 died after delivery. Among the 810 children
who survived, 537 are in foster care. Of the participants, 101 were white,
102 - black, 25 - Hispanic, 3 - Indian, and 6 - biracial. Under the CRACK
program, 117 had a tubal ligation, 67 took Dep-Provera, 23 had an IUD, and
the only participating man had a vasectomy. June
26, 2000 The Washington Post
1999 - There are several pieces of legislation, both on the federal level and on the state level, that help women with family planning and reproductive health - some are successful, some not, some are pending. The majority of these requires coverage of prescription contraceptives for insurance programs, HMOs, or subsidized reproductive health care services. For information on particular legislation, click here for US or click here for states
Almost 60% of all pregnancies in the US are unintended. Accessibility to family planning, including contraception, is necessary so that women can choose the size of their families and delay pregnancy.
Contraception is one of the most common forms of family planning, and one of the most widely used prescription drugs.
85% of health insurance plans cover abortions and sterilizations, but only 15% of these cover all 5 FDA-approved reversible methods of contraception.
The cost of providing coverage for contraceptive drugs is $1.25 per month per employee, although the out-of-pocket expense to an uncovered employee is $25- $50 a month.
Alan Guttmacher The Impact of Women's Education on Fertility In Latin America
Alan Guttmacher
Institute --- International Family Planning Perspectives:
"According to data from Demographic and Health Surveys for nine LatinAmerican
countries, women with no education have large families of 67 children,
whereas better educated women have family sizes of 23 children, analogous
to those of women in the developed world. Despite these wide differentials
in actual fertility, desired family size is surprisingly homogeneous throughout
the education spectrum"
Paul Storey of
ZPG--
"International Planned Parenthood estimates 500 million women want to control
their fertility but are unable to do so. In Africa, for example, 77% of married
women who want no more children are not using birth control. To achieve 75%
contraceptive use worldwide, annual expenditures on family planning will
need to triple to about $10 billion. Currently the U.S. consumers spend more
money on Halloween costumes each year than in helping deliver family planning
services to the third world. 80% of the $3 billion spent on family planning
comes from developing nations themselves."
WOA!! Do we need your help! This is news we had no time to file properly. We are looking for a 'Birth Control' section chief (volunteer) to organize this mess in a more logical fashion. To apply for the job, go ahead and reorganize this page (a wee bit of HTML knowledge required), and email it to me, HTML and all. Please maintain the current web site style.