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Planning to Have Children. Chapter 10. Lecture/Discussion Outline. Social pressure? Children and Family Life: How many? Teen Pregnancy Infertility Adoption options Abortion debate. Is there social pressure to have children in America?
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Planning to Have Children Chapter 10
Lecture/Discussion Outline • Social pressure? • Children and Family Life: How many? • Teen Pregnancy • Infertility • Adoption options • Abortion debate
Is there social pressure to have children in America? • Are individuals who opt not to have children considered selfish/Immature? • Is having children important to most people?
Becoming a Parent • 72% of American adults have children • Half of all U.S pregnancies are unintended • A big milestone in life • In a national study of first-year college students, 77% said that having children is an “essential” or “very important” objective in their lives. • In a similar study: 91% agreed to “Someday I want to have children”
Social Influences to Have Children • Pronatalism • Family • Friends • Religion • Race • Government • Economy
Total Fertility Rate by Race/ethnicity, 2005 Differential birthrates reflect the fact that cultures have different beliefs and values about having children.
Lifestyle Changes • Daily Living • Financial Costs • Gender differences?
How many Children is Ideal? • Do people who decide not to have children lead an empty life?
Number of Children and Family Dynamics • Childfree marriages • Procreative liberty • Antinatalism • In what ways is our country antinatalist? • One Child? • Two? • Three? • More than 3? • What is competitive birthing?
How does media portray teen pregnancy? • Reasons for teenage pregnancy? • What types of problems do teen mothers and fathers face?
Teenage Motherhood • Social Stigma • Poverty • Poor Health • Academic Achievement
Fertility • What macro level factors affect fertility rates? • The sociological imagination
Infertility • Primary • Secondary • Pregnancy wastage • Are infertility problems mostly attributed to women?
Assisted Reproductive Technology • Hormone therapy • Artificial Insemination • In Vitro fertilization
Reproductive technology-Social and Ethical Issues • Embryo Screening- A technology for examining fertilized eggs before implantation to choose or eliminate certain ones. • The potential to create a child with certain traits expands • What are the implications? • Sex selection • Trait selection
Adoption Demographic characteristics of those who typically adopt: white, educated, and high-income. Adoptees in the highest demand are healthy, white infants. Those who are older, of a racial or ethnic group different from the adoptive parents, of a sibling group, or with physical or developmental disabilities are more difficult to place.
Adoption • Transracial Adoption • Adopting children of a race different from that of the parents. • Why controversial? • Open Adoptions • In an open adoption, the biological parent can stay involved in the child’s life.
Abortion • 1. An induced abortion is the deliberate termination of a pregnancy through chemical or surgical means. • 2. A spontaneous abortion (miscarriage) is the unintended termination of a pregnancy. • What are the main arguments of the abortion debate?
Abortion Debate Pro-Life Pro-Choice Freedom of choice is a central value. Those who must bear the burden of their choices ought to have the right to make these choices. Procreation choices must be free of governmental control. • The unborn fetus has a right to live. • Abortion is an immoral solution to unintended pregnancy. • The life of an unborn fetus is sacred and should be protected, even at the cost of individual difficulties for the pregnant woman.
Who Gets Abortions and Why? • 1209 pregnant women who reported having an reported the following reasons: • 74% - The child would interfere with education, work, or ability to care for dependents. • 73% - She could not afford a baby now. • 48% - She did not want to be a mother or was having relationship problems.
Abortion • Physical Effects • Psychological Effects • Post-abortion attitudes of men