Studies in family planning
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Comparative Study
The use of traditional methods of contraception among Turkish couples.
About half the users of contraceptives in Turkey employ traditional methods of family planning, particularly withdrawal. This report presents data from a 1988 national survey to examine Turkish couples' use of and opinions about these methods. ⋯ Most couples who practice withdrawal also feel that it is as effective as modern methods. These findings imply that a major focus of family planning efforts should be the education of women, of their partners, and of health-care and family planning providers concerning the benefits, risks, and failure rates of both traditional and modern contraceptive methods.
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The impact of women's employment and education on contraceptive use and abortion in Kinshasa, Zaire.
This report examines contraceptive behavior and abortion among women residing in Kinshasa, Zaire's capital city, with particular emphasis on women's employment and education. A data set collected in 1990 covering 2,399 women of reproductive age was used. ⋯ Women's employment and education are strongly linked to contraceptive use and abortion, and differences in the incidence of abortion by schooling and employment status appear to play an important role in contributing to corresponding observed differences in fertility. Modern contraceptives and induced abortion appear to be used as complementary fertility-control strategies in Kinshasa, and analyses of the findings suggest that better-educated women employed in the modern sector are most likely to be in the forefront of the contraceptive revolution.
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What is the likelihood that each of the 37 developing countries with populations of 15 million or more in 1990 will reach replacement fertility by the year 2015? These countries have a combined population of 3.9 billion, 91 percent of the population of all developing countries. For this article, a composite index was used as the basis for predicting future levels of total fertility. ⋯ Eight countries are classified as certain to reach replacement fertility by 2015, and an additional thirteen probably will also. Five countries are classified as possibly reaching replacement fertility, and eleven as unlikely to do so.
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Sexuality and power relations based on gender are relevant to researchers, policymakers, and service providers in the reproductive health field, because they underlie virtually all of the behaviors and conditions that their programs address. Yet, a review of conventional treatments in the demographic and family planning literature reveals that, when they consider these topics at all, researchers typically adopt narrow definitions of sexual behavior and focus almost exclusively on risks of pregnancy and disease. This article proposes an analytic framework as a guide to researchers and family planning providers. It relates four dimensions of sexuality to reproductive health outcomes and concludes that family planning policies and programs should address a broader spectrum of sexual behaviors and meanings, consider questions of sexual enjoyment as well as risk, and confront ideologies of male entitlement that threaten women's sexual and reproductive rights and health.
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In Latin America, induced abortion is the fourth most commonly used method of fertility regulation. Estimates of the number of induced abortions performed each year in Latin America range from 2.7 to 7.4 million, or from 10 to 27 percent of all abortions performed in the developing world. Because of restrictive laws, nearly all of these abortions, except for those performed in Barbados, Belize, and Cuba, are clandestine and unsafe, and their sequelae are the principal cause of death among women of reproductive age. ⋯ This article addresses how the epidemic of unsafe abortion might be challenged. Recommendations include providing safer outpatient treatment and strengthening family planning programs to improve women's contraceptive use and their access to information and to safe pregnancy termination procedures. In addition, existing laws and policies governing legal abortion can be applied to their fullest extent, indications for legal abortion can be more broadly interpreted, and legal constraints on abortion practices can be officially relaxed.