Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health articles from March 2003

Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health archives from March 2003

A blow for abortion law appeal. (FYI).(abortion counseling requirement protest)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... An eight-year-old Indiana law requiring that women seeking abortion receive in-person counseling at least 18 hours before the procedure may go into effect for the first time, now that the Supreme Court has declined to consider a challenge to...

The Vatican explains it all. (FYI).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Just when you thought that the English language was hopelessly muddled, the Vatican is coming to the rescue with a work that will clarify some 90 "neologisms, ambiguous terms and difficult concepts in frequent use"--such as "reproductive...

Having two parents helps. (FYI).(single parent family health risk to children)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Children living with only one parent have a higher risk of death, mental illness and injury than those in two-parent families, even when their socioeconomic disadvantage is taken into account. (1) In a population-based study in Sweden,...

Lesson not learned. (FYI).(need for HIV prevention programs)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Three-quarters of women surveyed at school-based programs for pregnant teenagers and young mothers in Los Angeles County reported using condoms no more than half the time they had intercourse, and fewer than one in five said they had used a...

Black women and menopause. (FYI).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The largest study yet of the predictors of natural menopause among black women in the United States shows that smokers reach menopause earlier than other women. (1) More than 17,000 women who were 35-55 years old and premenopausal in 1995...

The sponge bounces back. (FYI).(Today contraceptive sponge)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... The Today contraceptive sponge is once again available to American women. (1) As thousands of women, family planning professionals and viewers of Seinfeld are aware, the over-the-counter method, introduced to the U.S. market in 1983, was...

Sex in the countryside. (FYI).(need for HIV prevention education)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Substantial proportions of HIV-infected men and women surveyed in rural areas of 12 states reported recently engaging in unsafe sexual behavior. (1) Of the 149 men and 67 women who participated in the survey, 49% and 57%, respectively, said...

The circle of life. (FYI).(teenage mothers)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... For teenage mothers who are wards of the state, whether a main parenting figure had been a teenage parent could be a critical predictor of psychosocial outcomes, according to findings based on telephone interviews with 139 mothers aged 14-20...

Under a proposal made by the Food and Drug Administration early this year, labeling for over-the-counter contraceptives containing nonoxynol-9 would state that these preparations do not prevent infection with HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... Under a proposal made by the Food and Drug Administration early this year, labeling for over-the-counter contraceptives containing nonoxynol-9 would state that these preparations do not prevent infection with HIV or other sexually transmitted...

In Understanding Medical Abortion: Policy, Politics, and Women's Health, the University of Oregon's Center for the Study of Women in Society presents the most up-to-date information about medical abortion.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2003... In Understanding Medical Abortion: Policy, Politics, and Women's Health, the University of Oregon's Center for the Study of Women in Society presents the most up-to-date information about medical abortion and lays out the legal and political...

An evaluation of California's Adolescent Sibling Pregnancy Prevention Program.
March 1, 2003... Much evidence has documented the disproportionately high rates of adolescent pregnancy and childbearing and early sexual activity among the siblings of pregnant and parenting teenagers. (1) Concern over this problem led to the creation of the...

Family planning providers' perspectives on dual protection.(in the US and other places, there needs to be an integration on health services for both unintended pregnancy and STDs)
March 1, 2003... The landmark 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development, (1) the 1995 Beijing Conference on Women (2) and the five-year review of the Cairo conference (3) provided the impetus for family planning programs worldwide to...

Evaluation of the efficacy of a nonlatex condom: results from a randomized, controlled clinical trial.(styrene ethylene butylene styrene or Tactylon)
March 1, 2003... Male condoms are the only reversible method of contraception available for men and offer effective protection against the transmission of HIV (1) and several other sexually transmitted diseases. (2) Despite their value, the currently available...

Preventing sexual risk behaviors and pregnancy among teenagers: linking-research and programs. (Comments).
March 1, 2003... Recent trends in adolescent sexual behavior offer mixed messages. It is very encouraging that teenagers' overall rates of sexual activity, pregnancy and childbearing are decreasing, and that their rates of contraceptive and condom use are...

The measurement and meaning of unintended pregnancy. (Comments).(a study of the concept of unintended pregnancy and its role in the fertility of populations)
March 1, 2003... The concept of unintended pregnancy has been essential to demographers in seeking to understand fertility, to public health practitioners in preventing unwanted childbearing and to both groups in promoting a woman's ability to determine whether...

Parents' smoking, seat belt may be linked to increased odds of adolescents' sexual debut. (Digests).
March 1, 2003... Two risky health behaviors of parents with adolescent children--smoking and not using seat belts--appear to be linked to their children's sexual and contraceptive behaviors. According to an analysis of 1994-1995 data from the National...

Racial disparities in early and adequate prenatal care decreased among U.S. women in 1980s and 1990s. (Digests).
March 1, 2003... Adequate use and early initiation of prenatal care in the United States increased among both black and white women between 1981 and 1998. (1) The proportion of women with adequate use of prenatal care steadily increased from 34% to 50% among...

Even after having an STD, many teenagers do not adopt safer-sex practices. (Digests).
March 1, 2003... Teenage women who receive a diagnosis of a sexually transmitted disease (STD) may learn about prevention as a result, but the experiences of a sample of adolescents in Alabama suggest that they do not apply that knowledge to subsequent...

Foreign-born STD clinic clients with HIV likely acquired infection here. (Digests).
March 1, 2003... U.S.-born attendees at sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics are as likely as foreign-born attendees to have HIV, and most HIV-positive attendees who were born abroad were probably infected after entering the United States. (1) At selected...

Some women with genetic susceptibility to breast cancer face elevated risk from oral contraceptive use. (Digests).
March 1, 2003... Among women with mutations of the breast cancer susceptibility gene BRCA1, certain patterns of oral contraceptive use increase the odds of the disease. (1) In a multicenter case-control study, women with a BRCA1 mutation who were ever-users of...

Teenagers with the least adult supervision engage in the most sexual activity. (Digests).
March 1, 2003... The more time that high school students spend without adult supervision, the higher their level of sexual activity. (1) In a sample of youths at. tending a school-based sexually transmitted disease (STD) screening program, the proportion who...

Women have different risk factors for verbal, physical partner abuse. (Digests).
March 1, 2003... Women who are physically abused by their partners and women who are verbally abused have different profiles, suggesting differing risk factors for these two types of violence. (1) Of women surveyed at two family planning clinics in Texas, 43%...

Teenage women who are devoted to their religion have reduced sexual risk. (Digests).
March 1, 2003... Different aspects of religiousness have different effects on teenage women's sexual behavior and risk perceptions, according to an analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). (1) For example, the...

Cervical cancer risk rises if women HPV also have herpes infection. (Digests).
March 1, 2003... Women who have human papillomavirus (HPV) infection of the cervix have a greater risk of invasive cervical cancer if they also have genital herpes, according to a pooled analysis of case-control studies.(1) Women with invasive cervical cancer...

UK youth prefer peer-led sexuality education classes to teacher-led programs. (Digests).
March 1, 2003... Whether British teenagers enjoy and feel that they have learned from sexuality education partly depends on how and by whom the material is taught. (1) Significantly greater proportions of adolescents who have received sexuality education from...