What about when birth control was not available? I guess that was the fifties (right?) when teenage pregnancy was almost unheard of. Why are there more pregnancies now, with so much available birth control, than when there was none?
P.S. I'm interested to hear from those who were living in the era when abortion was illegal- it wasn't that long ago.
2007-09-02 01:32:33 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Social Science ➔ Gender Studies
My question, though, is wether there were LESS pregnancies- people didn't have the kind of sex they have now because they were scared?
2007-09-02 02:00:10 · update #1
What's a D and C?
2007-09-02 02:01:19 · update #2
Let's examine this quote from Susan Faludi's Backlash:
" . . . American women have been terminating about one in three pregnancies for at least the last hundred years; the only real difference post-Roe was that women were now allowed to abort unwanted pregnancies legally and safely. And while the number of legal abortions did increase between 1973 and 1980, it then promptly leveled off and was even declining by the early 80's. From 1980 to 1987, the abortion rate fell 6 percent."
Also:
"Sterilization became the leading form of birth control in the 80's, chosen by nearly one in six American women. This was, again, a one-gender development. In the 80's, men's sterilization rate increased by a mere 1 percent. Until 1973, married men and women sought vasectomies and tubal ligations in equal numbers; by the second half of the 80's, women accounted for nearly two-thirds of all sterilizations among married couples."
2007-09-02 01:38:58 · answer #1 · answered by Rio Madeira 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
My sister was conceived out of wedlock when abortion was illegal. My parents got married at the age of 19. My cousin got pregnant at age 17 and got married. There are a combination of reasons we see more pregnancies now: First, people are more permiscuous now than they used to be for sure. Second, when unmarried girls got pregnant before abortion was legal, they were sent "away" to institutions until their babies were born, then the babies were put up for adoption - most people never knew what happened. Thirdly, many women got married when they got pregnant and it was just never announced that the prenancy came first. Finally, it is less taboo to get pregnant out of wedlock and in some cases even acceptable if someone wants a child, but hasn't been able to find a spouse.
By the way, birth control, in the form of condoms, has been around since the middle ages, just made of different materials.
2007-09-02 03:45:53 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
A D&C is a "dilation and curettage", a common gynecological procedure for a variety of problems. It is same-day surgery that involves scraping out the uterus with an instrument called a curette. I had one many years ago (no, I wasn't pregnant).
Unplanned and teenage pregnancies were not less common when abortion was illegal. It just wasn't talked about. It was shameful. Women went to back-alley abortionists who performed the procedure without proper antiseptic precautions and sometimes without anesthesia. Many women lost their lives as a result. I have run into surprisingly many anti-abortionists who think those women got what they deserved for their choices. I still occasionally hear from conservative individuals who think an unplanned baby is appropriate punishment for a woman who had unprotected sex.
The '50's were not the sexually innocent time you seem to think they were. Kids did then what kids did now, but it wasn't talked about. There was no internet or music videos back then. TV was in its infancy; there were only a few channels and certainly not the kind of programming you take for granted now. There are more pregnancies now because it's socially acceptable. Young people have sex more frequently and with more partners because they see it happening around them and think it's okay because "everybody's doing it."
I remember the moment abortion became legal. We cheered. It must never become illegal again. Making it illegal will not stop it. We must continue to educate all generations that there are better ways to manage their sexuality.
2007-09-02 04:34:16 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
The point was that while it was illegal, it went on all the time, either by traveling to where it was legal or by going to unsanitary hotel rooms for a "D&C". The reason it was "unheard of" is that "nice" girls didn't get pregnant so they disappeared to a "cousins" and had a baby that was put up for adoption. One of the effects of birth control and more easily available safe abortion is that there are a lot less babies available for adoption and many agencies that did adoptions have gone away or are sharply reduced in size.
What happened before "The Pill" was introduced depended sharply on the community and state the women were living in. Some white ladies might have no knowledge, but might turn to their black cleaning lady or maid to find the local woman who did them. Some states had harsh rules about any kind of birth control information, much less products, while the condom, IUD, and diaphragm were available back then.
2007-09-02 01:42:57 · answer #4 · answered by Mike1942f 7 · 7⤊ 1⤋
I wasn't alive when abortion was illegal, but you're lacking some very important information about the 1950's.
We tend to idealize this era, but it was hardly chaste. The 1950's gave birth to the term "heavy petting." Housewives were getting through the day with "Mommy's Little Helper" (Valium or cocaine, depending on who you ask.) And in fact, teenage pregnancies did NOT drop. Census-taking was changed. If an unwed mother was living with her parents (and where else would she be?), her teenage pregnancy was not counted. So the statistics on teen pregnancy in the 50's are totally inaccurate.
It's all in the source, an amazing book with a very solid bibliography.
2007-09-02 07:25:10 · answer #5 · answered by Anise 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
It was almost unheard of probably because they were covered up. Girls sent to distant family members for a time, and that distant family member all of a sudden has a child, or the girl is hidden for a time, and her mother all of a sudden has a new baby, that kind of thing.
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I don't know if there are more or less now, but if there is more I can say that my opinion about it is that there isn't proper sex ed, people are only teaching kds "Don't have sex", they aren't teaching them about BC, and the consequences of sex.
2007-09-02 03:08:15 · answer #6 · answered by littlevivi 5 · 3⤊ 1⤋
History tells us that unplanned pregnancies stay about the same, but deaths due to illegal abortions skyrocket.
2016-05-19 02:51:01 · answer #7 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As there is no totally reliable method of birth control, and men are no keener these days to wear condoms than they were back then, I'd say there's about the same number of anxious women at the month's end as ever there were. I would guess married women had the greatest number of abortions - probably because they had their own bathrooms, or friends who had bathrooms.
2007-09-02 03:59:17 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Don't kid yourself there was plenty of teenage pregnancy in the fifties. Presently pregnancy is not considered as shameful and taboo as it was back then with teenager and unmarried women. Girl back then were sent away or abortions were done illegally and sometimes with tragic results.
2007-09-02 07:41:40 · answer #9 · answered by The Ms. 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Here's a link to what a D and C is:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002914.htm
2007-09-02 14:18:17 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋