Pregnancy, Childbirth and Birth Control

Sep 18 2008

Managing Your Fertility

Fertility is a mixed blessing for some women. The ability to participate in the miracle of birth is an overwhelming experience for many. Yet the responsibility to control one’s fertility can also seem overwhelming. Today, we not only understand the intimate details of reproduction but also possess technologies designed to control or enhance our fertility. Along with information and technological advance comes choice, and choice goes hand in hand with responsibility. Choosing if and when to have children is one of our greatest responsibilities. A woman and her partner have much to consider before planning or risking a pregnancy. Children, whether planned or unplanned, change people’s lives. They require a lifelong personal commitment of love and nurturing.

Before you plan or risk a pregnancy, you have the responsibility to make certain you are physically, emotionally, and financially prepared to care for another human being. One measure of maturity is the ability to discuss reproduction and birth control with one’s sexual partner before succumbing to sexual urges. Men often assume that their partners are taking care of birth control. Women often feel that if they bring up the subject, it implies that they are or “loose.” You will find embarrassment-free discussion a lot easier if you understand human reproduction and contraception and honestly consider your attitudes toward these matters before you get into compromising situations.

What Do You Think?

Paige is pregnant with her first child. During the pregnancy, she and her boyfriend Matt, the father of the child, occasionally meet up with their friends at their usual haunts on weekends. On these occasions, Paige limits herself to one or two beers and sometimes bums an occasional cigarette from Matt or one of their friends.

Is Paige’s behavior appropriate? Which behavior is more worrisome, her alcohol consumption or the occasional cigarette? Explain your answer. What is Matt’s responsibility in these instances? Do the friends have a responsibility as well?