A growing problem in the society today is unintended pregnancy. Unintended pregnancies occur when the pregnancy is unplanned or not wanted at the time the baby is conceived. This type of pregnancy is not only limited to teenagers, in the United States 49% of pregnancies were unintended in 2006 (Finer, 2011). The problem with unintended pregnancies is that they can send a family into financial ruin--especially since the majority of unintended pregnancies occur to teens, young women (aged 18-24), the poor and people who are cohabiting (CDC).
Not only could an unintended pregnancy lead to financial difficulties, but it could lead to miscarriage and other difficulties. This is because the mother-to-be in these circumstances could practice unhealthy living habits, such as: being over or under weight, smoking and drinking. Before becoming pregnant a woman should consult her doctor and adopt healthy behaviors in order to insure the health of herself and the baby.
In order to confront the problem of unintended pregnancies, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has adopted a recommendation, which could lead to birth control pills being sold without a prescription. They claim that cost and accessibility of oral contraceptives has been a cause in the increase of unintended pregnancies.
CNN: Physicians: Birth control should be sold without a prescription
It will be interesting to see how effective this movement would be in making an effective step against unintended pregnancies, and the resulting difficulties.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012, April 4). Unintend Pregnancies. [Website]. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/unintendedpregnancy/
Finer, L.B. & Zolna, M.R. (2011) Unintended Pregnancy in the United States: incidence and disparities, 2006. Contraception, 2011, Vol. 84, no. 5, pp. 478-485. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22018121
Wilson, Jacque. (2012, November 21). Physicians: Birth control should be sold without a prescription. CNN. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/20/health/birth-control-over-the-counter/
No comments:
Post a Comment