WHY USE CONTRACEPTION
An individual's or couple's decisions about birth control can depend on many factors, including age, future plans, marital or relationship status (including trust and cooperation), finances, religious beliefs, sexual attitudes, health, and prior experiences.
Not using birth control if you are sexually active is a specific kind of personal decision, just as choosing to use birth control, whatever the reason, is a personal decision.
The main reason for using birth control is to prevent an unwanted pregnancy. Not only is an unwanted pregnancy likely to cause emotional turmoil and health risks, it also may present financial burdens. Often, unwanted pregnancies occur in young teenagers or women over
thirty-five, times when health risks during pregnancy are highest. The social and economic costs may also be high at these same ages, as these two quotations show:
A twenty-two-year-old woman: I got pregnant when I was fifteen and had my baby the day before my sixteenth birthday. My parents wanted me to finish school, and they took care of my son for a while when he was little, but then my father died and I had to drop out to go to work. Now, it doesn't look like I'll ever marry — who'd want to have me?
A thirty-seven-year-old woman: I'd been married for fifteen years when I got pregnant again at thirty-five. My two other kids were fourteen and twelve, and I was finishing a two-year course to be a court stenographer. I had to change my plans completely and become a mother again, and it was no cup of tea, believe me. Now my husband has filed for divorce, and I'm sure the baby was part of the cause.
Of the 1.2 million teenagers who become pregnant in the United States each year, more than 400,000 obtain abortions. Many others drop out of school or enter into hasty marriages where the odds of divorce are high, the chances of getting a good job are low, and ending up on welfare is common. Others try to raise a child alone or with the assistance of relatives, but this plan often proves more difficult than it might at first seem. An unplanned pregnancy at any age may also disrupt career plans, and economic costs are created by terminating the pregnancy or raising the child. There is also an emotional cost to an unwanted pregnancy. Feelings of foolishness, guilt, anger, or helplessness may strain or break a relationship (“It was all your fault!”), or may create later sexual problems.
Of course, there are other reasons for using contraception, including the wish to space pregnancies, limit family size, avoid potential genetic disorders or birth defects, protect the mother's health, and allow women more control over planning their lives. Contraception also permits people to enjoy a sexual relationship without making commitments to marriage or parenthood. Limiting reproduction also has major social and philosophical consequences in a world of limited natural resources where overpopulation exerts political and psychological effects and environmental issues are of prominent concern.
*49\342\2*
