Contraception
Contraception refers to the deliberate use of methods or devices to prevent pregnancy. It can involve various approaches, such as hormonal methods, barrier methods, intrauterine devices, and sterilization. The goal of contraception is to enable individuals to make informed choices about if and when to have children, thereby promoting reproductive autonomy and family planning.
3 Key excerpts on "Contraception"
eBook - ePub- Judy Wajcman(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Polity(Publisher)
...Since the 1950s, birth prevention has become a major international industry and it is linked with the politics of state intervention in population planning. Populationist ideology not scientific discovery was the catalyst for the major financial investment in research on birth-prevention methods and, according to Elkie Newman (1985), influenced the specific techniques which have become available. The technological prerequisites for the development of an oral hormonal contraceptive had existed by 1938 but popular morality and pronatalist policies delayed its development until the late 1950s. According to Newman, it was the sudden and popular fear of a world population explosion which legitimated work on the Pill and resulted in family planning services becoming a major part of aid packages to the Third World. 16 How then do we explain the emphasis on hormonal contraceptives and, by contrast, the heavy neglect of barrier methods, which are classed as old-fashioned? ‘Considering how much time, money and energy is now spent on birth-control research, we might expect to be able to choose from among, say, ten different kinds of barrier method or perhaps a range of ‘morning-after’ methods. Instead, our options are confined to essentially two barrier methods, the various hormonal methods, a few IUDs and abortion techniques, and a small but increasing number of sterilization techniques’ (Newman, 1985, p. 135). Although the Pill is the most reliable method of Contraception, it is associated with dangerous health risks and side effects for women. Nevertheless doctors favour the Pill because it helps to avoid the ethical dilemmas of dealing with unwanted pregnancy and abortion, and it requires a minimum of time and skill while keeping Contraception firmly under their control. From the doctor’s point of view, the fact that this method does not require many visits to the clinic, and does not need to be explained at great length to the patient are additional advantages...
eBook - ePubYen & Jaffe's Reproductive Endocrinology E-Book
Physiology, Pathophysiology, and Clinical Management
- Antonio R. Gargiulo, Jerome F. Strauss, Robert L. Barbieri(Authors)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Elsevier(Publisher)
...Chapter 36 Contraception Courtney A. Schreiber Kurt Barnhart Introduction ◆ Forty-five percent of pregnancies in the United States are unintended. ◆ The most widely used Contraception method is the oral contraceptive pill. ◆ Use of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) is limited by cost, access, and education; removal of these barriers results in dramatic uptake up these methods. The use of modern contraceptives has contributed substantially to the reduction of maternal and infant morbidity and mortality and to the ability of women to contribute to society. However, effective use of the methods has not been fully realized, as approximately 45% of all pregnancies in the United States, nearly 3 million pregnancies per year, are unintended. 1 Unintended pregnancy has negative effects on maternal and newborn health, limits the educational potential of women, and requires significant financial resources from individuals and society. 2 According to the US census bureau, 62 million American women are in the childbearing years (15 to 44 years old), the vast majority of whom are sexually active and trying to avoid pregnancy. The two contributors to unintended pregnancy are contraceptive non-use and contraceptive failure. 3 Table 36.1 demonstrates the changes over time in American contraceptive use and underscores that although long-term contraceptive methods are increasing in use, these methods still make up a slim minority of contraceptive technologies used by American women. The oral contraceptive pill is the most widely used method by women in their teens and 20s, women who have never been married, and women who have at least a college degree. Poor and low-income women are twice as likely as higher-income women to use the 3-month injectable method, depo-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA)...
eBook - ePubRe-thinking Abortion
Psychology, Gender and the Law
- Mary Boyle(Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...You're always left with the hard-core who think they understand [Contraception] but it still goes wrong. Fortunately, researchers have tried to develop more complex and constructive theories of contraceptive use. Because the concern here is with the relationship between Contraception and abortion, the focus will inevitably be on die non-use or inefficient use of Contraception and the factors which seem to influence it. WHAT INFLUENCES CONTRACEPTIVE USE? A number of factors have consistendy emerged as important influences on contraceptive use, and as contributing to our understanding of why people who do not seek pregnancy should have unprotected intercourse. Four of these will be discussed in this section: knowledge of Contraception and reproduction; the desire for trust and commitment; social and interpersonal costs of Contraception; and the experience of side effects. Knowledge of Contraception and reproduction It has long been assumed that if only people had adequate knowledge of occurrence. In 1916, for example, evidence to the National Birthrate Commission from the Malthusian League stated that a ‘universal knowledge of hygienic and reliable contraceptive devices is the only possible method of eliminating [induced abortion]’ (cited in Brooks 1988: 64). Similarly, in 1949 the Royal Commission on Population Report claimed that evidence of ‘faulty knowledge’ was ‘most glaringly apparent’ in the prevalence of criminal abortion (Brooks 1988: 64, 135). It is certainly the case that failure to use Contraception effectively is associated with a lack of knowledge of both conception and Contraception. A number of researchers, for example, have noted that the belief that pregnancy will not happen is frequently offered as a reason for not using Contraception (e.g. Washington et al. 1983; Morrison 1985)...
