1. Chapter 10 Planning Children and Contraception
Do you want to have children?
How many children do you want?
Infertility
Adoption
Contraception
Abortion

2. Social Influences Motivating Individuals to Have Children
Family
Friends
Religion
Government
Cultural observances: Mother’s/Father’s Day

3. Motivations for Having Children
Conscious: desire for love, companionship, personal fulfillment.
Unconscious: avoid being along, substitute for bad marriage/career progress, have someone to love.

4. Economic Costs of Parenthood
$3,000: cost from pregnancy to first month child born.
$160,140 cost of rearing middle-class child born in from birth through age 17.

5. How Many Children do you want?
None - Childfree marriages are happier.
One - Only children tend to be happy, bright, socially skilled.
Two - Most preferred family size in U.S.
Three or More - Couples with two children of same sex are more likely to have third child.

6. Assisted Reproductive Technology
Hormone therapy
Artificial insemination
Artificial insemination of surrogate mother
Ovum Transfer
In Vitro Fertilization

7. Abortion Rates Are Dropping
Single women decide to keep babies.
Increased condom use.
Liberal attitudes toward single-parent families.
Fewer abortion providers.
Limited access to health facilities that offer abortions.

8. Who gets abortions
60% of women who seek an abortion used contraception.
2/3’s of abortions are performed on never-married women.
Over 1/2 are obtained by women younger than 25.

9. Why women choose abortion
Study of 92 women who sought an abortion:
46% fear the child would cause difficulties with their training or work.
29% pressure from parents.
20% concern the relationship with partner is unstable.

10. Should you choose abortion?
Consider the alternatives realizing that no alternative may be all good or all bad.
Obtain information about each alternative.
Talk with trusted family members, friends or counselors.
Consider your personal and moral commitments in life.