Though it’s too early to produce long-term research, anecdotal evidence is linking the struggling economy with more abortions and vasectomies. Why? People simply can’t afford more kids right now.

Former president of the American Urological Association and practicing urologist Lawrence Ross said the number of men seeking vasectomies had remained consistent over the years–about 500,000 a year. But in the last six months or so, he has seen a 50% increase. His patients’ reasons make sense. If you’ve been thinking about it, and now you are worried about losing your job and insurance benefits–get it done while you still can.

Ross also says men who weren’t previously thinking of vasectomies have new motivation. “A lot of them are saying that we’ve decided to limit our family, the costs of education and raising kids is so high.”

Vasectomies may have remained at constant levels. But abortion rates definitely fluctuate. (The numbers of tubal ligations or other female sterilization procedures may be a better comparison. But such data was not compared.) In 2005, when the economy was great, abortion rates were down to their lowest numbers since it was legalized. Now, they are up again. One woman interviewed for the initial report said, “I felt I had to go through with the procedure because I cannot afford another child.” The 32-year old woman is a registered nurse, but she is single and feels her job is not secure.

The president of an abortion hotline says their phone has been “ringing off the hook.” She says some of the issues that low-income women have always cited as reasons for abortion–their husbands or boyfriends are unemployed, uninsured, or are afraid of losing their home–are now affecting middle-class women.

I do not personally support abortion. But I can absolutely see why some people would choose to limit their family size right now. I know that economics was part of the decision when my husband and I started talking about having another baby. This was a few years ago. And at the time, the nation’s economy was doing great. But my personal economy was more the issue. How would we make it financially if I took a year off? Of course, my husband said if you wait until you can afford kids, you’ll never have them. He’s right, of course. But I was still nervous. I’m glad we expanded our family when we did. I’m not sure I would have wanted to make that decision today.

What about you? Is an uncertain economy a factor in expanding (or limiting) your family size?

It’s a baby boom! Government researchers just reported that in 2007, there were 4.3 million live births. That tops even the baby boom of the 1950s. After concerns on some fronts in recent years about the US population not reproducing itself, this is a sigh of relief. But the numbers are slightly misleading. According to the Centers for Disease Control, back in the 50s, there were fewer women having babies–but they had more of them (about four kids each). Today, women have 2.1 children a piece (I guess I’m just .1 away from normal. Any of you over your limit? You can have my share.) The highest numbers are in Utah. The lowest in Vermont. I wonder if that is adjusted for population? A quarter of the “women” giving birth are teenagers. And 40% of the births were to unwed parents.

Experts of every stripe are out in force today, ranging from the abortion advocates to family researchers, sociologists and economists. Each of them is weighing in on why things are the way they are. You may not even be surprised to learn that some of the issues here have been blamed on George Bush. (That’s kind of a long-standing game between my husband and I. What did someone blame on Bush today?) Economists say the trend in babymaking matches the economy. Since 2007 was a good year, there were lots of babies. Dr. Carol Hogue, a professor of maternal and child health at Emory University, thinks the birth rate will drop with the downturn in the economy. “The lowest birth rates recorded in the United States occurred during the Great Depression.”

Now the study didn’t say how many of the unwed births were unintended, nor how many of the unmarried women were in long-term relationships with the father. Still, 40% is not a good number. Why are teenagers getting pregnant? Some are saying it’s because they don’t have an abortion clinic nearby. Some say that George Bush tried to teach them abstinence-only but they didn’t get the message. For whatever reason, the teen birth rate had been going down for 15 years. Then suddenly, last year, it went back up.

I am no expert in such matters. But I have been a high school teacher for many years. I can tell you that teenagers are no longer branded by a negative social stigma when they get pregnant. So if it happens to one of them, they no longer have to face ‘outcast’ or ‘hussy’ status. Girls and boys freely discuss their sexuality in school. I also have noted that most of my students who were willing to speak up are very opposed to abortion on a personal level. They would much rather raise a baby than abort it. (This matches the fact that abortion rates have been dropping steadily. Which causes the other?) It also seems like a cultural trend to me when you consider that the numbers are not balanced among different races. The birth rate among black teenagers is twice as high as whites. Hispanic teenagers have three times as many babies as white girls. I live and teach in a community that is more than half hispanic. I don’t know all the ins and outs because I am not hispanic myself. But I do see a positive commitment to family among them. A baby is a good thing. Again, these are just my observations. Of course there are other experiences out there.

So why are older women having babies out of wedlock? Maybe for the same reasons. And, if you add in the fact that marriage is slightly on the decline, it makes sense. Again, if you look at the number breakdown, it is very much a trend within certain cultures. Almost 72% of all black babies were born to unwed mothers. A little more than half of hispanic babies were. Do you have any explanation for this other than cultural attitudes?

There were a few more interesting findings:
- One third of all births are by cesarean. (In Puerto Rico, it’s almost half of all births.) “Every pregnant woman in the U.S. should be alarmed by this rate,” said the president of the advocacy group, International Cesarean Awareness Network advocacy group. Pam Udy continued by saying that more than half of those could have been avoided. If you had a cesarean, why? Was it elective? Was it planned?
-On a positive note, there are fewer premature babies born now. Fewer infants are low-birth weight, too. Is this the result of younger mamas? Or better health care? None of the above?

What do you think of all these numbers?

On Sunday, the Palin and Johnston families welcomed baby Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston. Bristol Palin, 18, is the oldest daughter of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the former running mate of Republican presidential candidate John McCain. The baby was born in Palmer, Alaska, and weighed 7 lb., 4 oz. Both mother and son are healthy and recovering well.

Bristol has not yet completed high school but is working on her diploma through correspondence courses. Her boyfriend, Levi Johnston, recently left school and is apprenticing to become an electrician. According to an interview in October with Levi, and recent reports from his mother, the young parents plan to wed this coming year and raise Tripp together.

Baby Tripp’s birth was at first confirmed by Bristol’s grandaunt, Colleen Jones, and was soon reported by People magazine. The families are all very excited about the new arrival, though the governor’s office considers the birth a private family matter and will not release information.

Bristol Palin’s pregnancy made headlines in a year full of news for many reasons, not the least of which was her age. In an era when it is sometimes easier to speak your convictions than it is to practice them, Sarah Palin reaffirmed her opposition to abortion in two ways when she not only knowingly bore a child with Down’s Syndrome (a decision lauded by some and criticized by others), but also gave her unconditional support to her unwed, pregnant teenage daughter.

At the time of the announcement, the governor and then-vice presidential candidate did not disclose the identity of the baby’s father. But his mother, Sherry L. Johnston, told the press it was her son that fathered the child. (Ms. Johnston recently made news of her own when she was arrested on drug charges related to prescription painkiller, OxyContin.)

I write this article hesitantly, knowing that Tripp’s birth is news, yet wondering why. It has been a tiring and emotional year for the Palin family, I’m sure. Few of us have to live under the scrutinizing eye of the American people. Of course, anyone who willingly enters public service knows this will happen. Still, it can’t be easy to have all of your decisions be a matter of dinner conversation. Conservatives wondered if a woman whose daughter was pregnant could be as conservative as she claimed. Liberals worried that if she became vice-president she would restrict American access to abortion. No matter how you feel about her politics or personality, I don’t see how anyone can disagree that Sarah Palin kept her composure well under tremendous pressures at work, unexpected difficulties at home, and unrelenting attacks and mockery from her critics. I’m glad that her first grandchild was born after the circus we called an election is over. Considering the silence echoing from her office, I hope that means she is taking the opportunity to just sit and enjoy her family. At a time of year when we all try to remember to be at peace and forget our differences, perhaps you can take a moment to wish her well and say a prayer for Bristol, Sarah, and all of the family.

Yesterday, Republican Vice-President candidate Sarah Palin announced that her unwed 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is five months pregnant.

Palin says that her daughter is planning to marry the baby’s father, and says “we’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents.”

Political analysts speculate that the choice of Sarah Palin as a running mate for John McCain in this November elections is for her strong pro-life, anti-abortion views.

Sarah has five children. Her youngest, Trig, born in April, has Down Syndrome. The family knew about Trig’s condition while she was pregnant.

The news was released partly because of internet rumors that baby Trig is actually Bristol’s son, and Sarah is raising him as her own to avoid a scandal. If Bristol is five months pregnant, and Trig was born in April, that’s all but impossible.

Conservatives are divided on whether the news is good or bad for the Republicans. Those against sex before marriage are criticizing Sarah and her family, while other praising Bristol’s decision to keep her baby and marry her partner.

Whatever you believe about abortion, Sarah and her family clearly stand behind their pro-life views.

Do you think that the news that Sarah Palin’s daughter is pregnant is bad news for the Republicans? Do you think that her daughter having sex before marriage sets a bad example, or is it no big deal in 2008?

The Conservative government currently in power in Canada announced plans to introduce legislation that would make it a separate crime to kill or injure a fetus when committing violence against a pregnant woman. Justice Minister Rob Nicholson also stated, rather emphatically, that the law would be worded in such a way that “leaves no room for the introduction of fetal rights.”

The announcement comes after a flurry of activity in the Canadian House of Commons surrounding Bill C-484, a private member’s bill sponsored by MP Ken Epp (also of the Conservative Party), which, as it is currently written, would instill fetal rights and possibly infringe upon a woman’s access to abortion.

Abortion is legal in Canada, and has been since 1969.

Source: Conservative bill closes door on fetal rights via Canada.com

This is a horrible story. But it?s also a wonderful story.

On Monday, August 18, 2008, a woman in Israel went into premature labor at 23 weeks of pregnancy. Finding no pulse in the fetus, and with the mother hemorrhaging, doctors performed a surgical abortion–a c-section–apparently to save the mother?s life. The baby girl weighed just 610 grams (that?s about 1 lb. 5 ? oz. by my calculation), had no vital signs, was pronounced dead, and was taken to the hospital morgue?s freezer. About five hours later, the baby?s mom asked to hold her one more time. Hospital officials allowed the visit.

The prospect of holding my deceased child is not one I can fathom. But what happened to this mom is wonderful, bizarre, horrible?all at the same time: she found the baby breathing.

The baby?s father is understandably angry, suggesting the hospital declared his daughter dead too early. The hospital?s deputy director, Dr. Moshe Daniel, defended his doctors, saying they were not hasty.

The baby, now in the hospital?s NICU, has been given a 10% chance of survival, based only on her weight and gestational age. The fact that she was frozen is actually being credited with saving her life, rather than risking it. Lowering her body temperature may have “kept the baby’s metabolism rate and use of oxygen low.”

Impressively, she is still breathing on her own (the lungs are often underdeveloped in preemies). Still, her chances of survival?if left to modern medicine?are slim. Then again, she?s already a miracle baby.

I happen to be one that believes all babies are miracles. But this is different. What a fighter.

The rates of pregnancy among US teenagers have dropped from 1990 to 2004, according to a recent report by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. Pregnancy rates among women below 20 years old was 15% in 1990 but dropped to 12% in 2004. Abortion rates also dropped by 24% during this period.

However, preliminary statistics for 2006 indicate that teen pregnancy is on the rise again, together with rates of single motherhood and Caesarean delivery.

Other statistics in the report are:

• Pregnancy among unmarried women is on the rise while it is declining among married women.
• At current pregnancy rates, an American woman can, on the average, 3.2 pregnancies in her lifetime. The rate is higher among blacks and Hispanics (4.2 pregnancies) than whites (2.7 pregnancies). This is rather high compared to developed countries in Europe (see below).

Meanwhile in Europe, the birth rates are continuing to fall, according to a BBC feature.

In Germany, the birth rate in 2005 was 4.2% less than the previous year. There were 676,000 children born in 2005. This is much, much less than in 1946 during the Second World War, a year when 922,000 babies were born.

Other European countries are not better off than Germany. Eurostat 2004 figures show the following fertility rates:

• Ireland: 1.99
• France: 1.90
• Norway: 1.81
• Sweden 1.75
• UK: 1.74
• Netherlands: 1.73
• Germany: 1.37
• Italy: 1.33
• Spain: 1.32
• Greece: 1.29

It is estimated that for Europe to achieve a population replacement level, the birth rate should be 2.1 children per woman. Europeans, you still have a long way to go.

When Jodie Percival, 25, became pregnant for the third time while on the pill, she and fiancee Billy Crampton made the agonizing decision to abort at 8 weeks. Jodie is a carrier for a gene which causes tumors to grow on the kidneys of an unborn baby. She had already lost a son to the condition at only 20 minutes old. Her other son, born premature, survives on one kidney.

After the abortion, Jodie thought all had gone as planned until she felt fluttering in her womb weeks later and found out that the baby, which would be born with only minor kidney damage and named Finley Crampton, had survived!

At first Jodie was angry, and couldn’t believe what was happening.

?At first I was angry that this was happening to us, that the procedure had failed.

?I wrote to the hospital, I couldn?t believe that they had let me down like this. They wrote back and apologised and said it was very rare.?

Finley decided he deserved a chance in life however, and on November 2007, he was born premature weighing 6 lbs. and 3 oz. He is, amazingly, expected to live a normal life.

As for his mother:

?I just couldn?t believe that this child had got through it all and looked so perfect.

?He may need an operation but as only one of his kidneys is affected he can survive.

?I still struggle to believe just what he has fought through. Now he?s here I wouldn?t change it for the world.?

Source: NursingLink.com