Family planning perspectives
-
Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Family planning services in adolescent pregnancy prevention: the views of key informants in four countries.
Rates of adolescent pregnancy vary widely in the developed world. The prevention of adolescent pregnancy in the United States might be improved by comparing the provision of family planning services in the United States with that in some other developed countries. ⋯ As described by key informants, the family planning services available to teenagers in the Netherlands and Sweden have many of the features identified by respondents from all four countries as those that would characterize ideal family planning services for adolescents.
-
The maternal and child health (MCH) and the social services block grants have long played an important role in the provision of family planning services in the United States. The extent to which states have incorporated family planning services into the newer federally funded, but state-controlled, programs--Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)--has yet to be identified. ⋯ Joining two existing--but frequently overlooked--block grants, two new, largely state-controlled programs are poised to become important sources of support for publicly funded family planning services. Now more than ever, supporters of family planning services need to look beyond the traditional sources of support--Title X and Medicaid--as well as beyond the federal level to the states, where important program decisions are increasingly being made.
-
Researchers have examined the age of partners of young women at first intercourse and of young women who have given birth, but little is known about the age of partners of young women in current sexual relationships or young women who have had an abortion. ⋯ Although the proportion of 15-17-year-old women who have a much older partner is small, these adolescents are of concern because of their low rate of contraceptive use and their relatively high rates of pregnancy and birth. Research is needed to determine why some young women have relationships with an older man, and how their partner's characteristics affect their reproductive behavior.
-
Although a limited amount of research has retrospectively explored the childhood and adolescent heterosexual experiences of lesbians, little is known about the prevalence of heterosexual behavior and related risk factors or about pregnancy histories among lesbian and bisexual teenagers. ⋯ Providers of reproductive health care and family planning services should not assume that pregnant teenagers are heterosexual or that adolescents who say they are bisexual, lesbian or unsure of their sexual orientation are not in need of family planning counseling. Further research should explore the interactions between adolescent sexual identity development and sexual risk behaviors.
-
When rates of pregnancy, birth and abortion are calculated only for the women involved, men's role in reproduction is ignored, resulting in limited understanding of their influence on these outcomes. ⋯ The overall rate at which men were involved in causing a pregnancy is similar to the pregnancy rate among women. Men are typically older than women when they are involved in a pregnancy, however. This implies that men may bring more experience and resources to the pregnancy experience.