In Pursuit Of Pregnancy

"What is ninkatsu? Who promotes and governs this "active pursuit of pregnancy?" Trying to answer these questions, this unprecedented publication exhibits how mass media, policymakers, and biomedical science-corporate capitalism govern the individual's reproductive choices in contemporary Japan through gendered discourses of self-improvement, life planning, and biomedical technology. Analyzing a broad range of media, popular science, and government material, it links historical and social processes with an original theoretical framework on self-governance, neoliberalism, and postfeminism. While deeply engaging with Japanese sources, this rich scholarship takes the study of reproductive politics beyond Japan. This book is not only of interest for Japanese studies scholars but more broadly also those curious about neoliberal government strategies, gender, and biomedical capitalism"--

The inside scoop... for when you want more than the official line! Once you decide to start a family, you may think pregnancy will occur quickly. However, it takes the average healthy young couple six months to a year to conceive. This guide helps you get in the best possible shape for conceiving, discussing conception and misconceptions in depth. If pregnancy doesn't happen "automatically," you're not alone; one in six couples have fertility problems. The Unofficial Guide to Getting Pregnant provides clear, unbiased guidance on the many confusing medical, emotional, and financial issues related to getting pregnant. This book objectively reviews state-of-the-art infertility treatments and procedures, including fertility drugs, corrective surgery, IVF, and the other assisted reproductive technologies. It also covers third-party procedures, such as sperm and egg donation and surrogacy. Vital Information few resources reveal--information that can help you zero in on the most effective, economical approach for you. Insider Secrets about choosing a specialist, potential legal issues with third-party procedures, and alternative treatments that might work. Money-Saving Information to help you compare the cost of different treatments, decipher state laws on insurance coverage, and more. Time-Saving Tips to avoid delays in diagnosing and treating problems while your biological clock is ticking. The Scoop on the newest fertility drugs, microsurgical techniques, and assisted reproductive technologies.

This volume explores the transition to parenthood from a holistic developmental approach, relating to barriers such as fertility problems and traumatic childbirth, as well as pathways such as positive experiences of pregnancy and childbirth. It presents an extended process, beginning with infertility issues, continuing with subjects pertaining to decisions regarding parenthood, pregnancy and birth, and ending with the early stages of parenthood from a positive psychology perspective. The volume draws on theories of resilience, meaning, terror management, and attachment, and considers psychological, sociological, legal, policy, medical, and therapy issues. It relates to the developmental needs of individuals and couples, as well as to the role played by family, society, and the media, offering a comprehensive in-depth evaluation of the latest topics.

From award-winning science journalist Linda Geddes, a fascinating and practical companion for expectant parents that makes sense of conflicting advice about pregnancy, birth, and raising babies. Can I eat peanuts during pregnancy? Do unborn babies dream? Can men get pregnancy symptoms too? How much do babies remember? How can I get my baby to sleep through the night? The moment she discovers she’s pregnant, every woman suddenly has a million ques­tions about the life that’s developing inside her. Linda Geddes was no different, except that as a journalist writing for New Scientist magazine she had access to the most up-to-date scientific research. What began as a personal quest to find the truth behind headlines and information that didn’t patronize or confuse is now a brilliant new book. In Bumpology, Geddes discusses the latest research on every topic that expectant parents encounter, from first pregnancy symptoms to pregnancy diet, the right birth plan, and a baby’s first year.

Experts estimate that nearly 60 percent of all U.S. pregnanciesâ€"and 81 percent of pregnancies among adolescentsâ€"are unintended. Yet the topic of preventing these unintended pregnancies has long been treated gingerly because of personal sensitivities and public controversies, especially the angry debate over abortion. Additionally, child welfare advocates long have overlooked the connection between pregnancy planning and the improved well-being of families and communities that results when children are wanted. Now, current issuesâ€"health care and welfare reform, and the new international focus on populationâ€"are drawing attention to the consequences of unintended pregnancy. In this climate The Best Intentions offers a timely exploration of family planning issues from a distinguished panel of experts. This committee sheds much-needed light on the questions and controversies surrounding unintended pregnancy. The book offers specific recommendations to put the United States on par with other developed nations in terms of contraceptive attitudes and policies, and it considers the effectiveness of over 20 pregnancy prevention programs. The Best Intentions explores problematic definitionsâ€""unintended" versus "unwanted" versus "mistimed"â€"and presents data on pregnancy rates and trends. The book also summarizes the health and social consequences of unintended pregnancies, for both men and women, and for the children they bear. Why does unintended pregnancy occur? In discussions of "reasons behind the rates," the book examines Americans' ambivalence about sexuality and the many other social, cultural, religious, and economic factors that affect our approach to contraception. The committee explores the complicated web of peer pressure, life aspirations, and notions of romance that shape an individual's decisions about sex, contraception, and pregnancy. And the book looks at such practical issues as the attitudes of doctors toward birth control and the place of contraception in both health insurance and "managed care." The Best Intentions offers frank discussion, synthesis of data, and policy recommendations on one of today's most sensitive social topics. This book will be important to policymakers, health and social service personnel, foundation executives, opinion leaders, researchers, and concerned individuals.

While retaining the basic structure of the original book, this new edition has been thoroughly updated in light of some official Catholic documents and other theological writings dealing with sexual morality that have appeared since 1986. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Pope John Paul II's encyclicals Veritatis splendor and Evangelium vitae, and the 1986 and 1992statements of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on pastoral care of homosexuals and the issue of discrimination against them are among the more recent magisterial publications considered in this text. This edition also contains several new sections: the misuses of sex (adultery, pornography, prostitution, sexual violence); four rationales for viewing a committed love relationship as the only appropriate context for sexual intercourse; marriage as a sacrament and marital sexuality and love as embodiments of commitment, intimacy, and passion; and public policy and the civil rights of homosexuals. This edition also includes an expanded discussion of topics such as sexism, sexually transmitted diseases especially HIV/AIDS and the moral questions raised by new family-planning methods (Norplant, Depo-Provera), RU-486, postcoital hormonal interventions against pregnancy, the start of human life, and abortion. Vincent J. Genovesi, SJ, received his PhD in Christian ethics from Emory University. He is a professor at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. His articles have appeared in such journals as The Thomist, The Way, America, and Review for Religious.

A wide-ranging history of assisted reproductive technologies and their ethical implications. Finalist of the PROSE Award for Best Book in History of Science, Medicine and Technology by the Association of American Publishers Since the 1978 birth of the first IVF baby, Louise Brown, in England, more than eight million children have been born with the help of assisted reproductive technologies. From the start, they have stirred controversy and raised profound questions: Should there be limits to the lengths to which people can go to make their idea of family a reality? Who should pay for treatment? How can we ensure the ethical use of these technologies? And what can be done to address the racial and economic disparities in access to care that enable some to have children while others go without? In The Pursuit of Parenthood, historian Margaret Marsh and gynecologist Wanda Ronner seek to answer these challenging questions. Bringing their unique expertise in gender history and women's health to the subject, Marsh and Ronner examine the unprecedented means—liberating for some and deeply unsettling for others—by which families can now be created. Beginning with the early efforts to create embryos outside a woman's body and ending with such new developments as mitochondrial replacement techniques and uterus transplants, the authors assess the impact of contemporary reproductive technology in the United States. In this volume, we meet the scientists and physicians who have developed these technologies and the women and men who have used them. Along the way, the book dispels a number of fertility myths, offers policy recommendations that are intended to bring clarity and judgment to this complicated medical history, and reveals why the United States is still known as the "Wild West" of reproductive medicine.