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

Should individuals be able to pick the sex of their baby?

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– 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.

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.

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