Women's responses to abortion: implications for post-abortion support groups

Family planning and abortion clinics are starting to recognize the importance of providing postabortion counseling as part of the overall follow-up procedure. The literature on the psychosocial consequences of abortion reveals that abortion is a positive, growth-producing experience for the majority of women. However, abortion can be a stressful and emotionally difficult experience for other women as a result of ambivalence over the pregnancy or abortion, lack of positive support from significant others, feelings of guilt and loss, and inadequate coping skills. This paper reports a model for postabortion support groups aimed at clarifying feelings, reducing alienation and isolation, facilitating appropriate mourning, increasing self-esteem, and bringing appropriate closure to the abortion experience. Since 1984, such groups have been offered by the University of Washington Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) Abortion Birth Control Referral Service in Seattle, Washington. The groups, which meet weekly for 6 sessions and include 2-8 women, use discussions, role play, art therapy techniques, and psychodrama to alleviate abortion-related stress and effect changes in problematic ideas and feelings. Plans for the group developed out of the leaders' observation that women who returned to the Service for a second abortion often had not dealt with feelings or issues from the first procedure. Nonjudgmental acceptance of abortion as an individual choice has empowered many group participants to raise their consciousness about women's social status and take a more active role in decision making about their reproductive life.     

College students’ attitudes toward abortion and commitment to the issue

Male and female participants were surveyed on abortion attitudes, commitment, and abortion experience. Results revealed a normal distribution of abortion attitudes rejecting the notion that the vast majority of the sample would have significantly pro-choice views. No significant difference was found in overall abortion attitudes of males vs. females, however, individuals with direct abortion experience were found to have significantly stronger pro-choice attitudes than individuals without direct abortion experience. Overall, college students reported a moderate degree of commitment to the issue of abortion. Females were significantly more committed than males, individuals with direct abortion experience were significantly more committed than individuals without direct abortion experience, and individuals with more extreme abortion attitudes were significantly more committed than those with weaker, more ambivalent, attitudes. No significant difference was found in level of commitment between pro-choice and pro-life individuals.     

现代自由主义对青少年影响再探——基于青少年堕胎现象之视角

对于青少年堕胎泛滥,这一关涉中华民族永续发展的问题,广大家长表示了深深的忧虑,但迄今为止,从哲学角度对青少年堕胎问题进行反思的文章尚不多见.从建设性后现代哲学角度分析表明,“性教育的匮乏”固然是青少年堕胎泛滥的一个重要成因,但青少年堕胎泛滥背后还有其重要的理论原因,那就是现代自由主义的影响,而现代自由主义背后是现代个人主义在作祟,也就是说现代个人主义哲学是青少年堕胎泛滥背后的理论支撑物.在分析现代自由主义堕胎观局限的基础上,提出一种建设性后现代的厚道堕胎观,其中包括对生命的厚道、对少女的厚道、对婴儿的厚道.与此相应,主张在青少年中展开责任教育、共情教育和敬畏生命教育.本着“上医治未病”的原则,这种厚道堕胎观主张对青少年堕胎泛滥应该全社会共动员,标本兼治,以防患于未然.     

Family planning: humanism and science

The author used to believe that social workers had built in resistances to suggesting family planning for clients. Today, however, this is not longer so because of the 1967 resolution on the National Association of Social Workers. There is however, serious concern about furnishing contraceptives or family planning information to the unmarried minor. The author contents that physicians and social workers both have to help youth in the confused area of premarital sexual relations. The abortion problem should involve the same professions. The author argues that a) every woman over 40 should have the right to make up her mind about being pregnant and continuing so, and b) every girl of 17 or less should be allowed an abortion if she is pregnant out of wedlock.     

Controlling birth: science, politics, and public policy

Reproductive technologies raise a host of social and legal issues that challenge basic values and create intense controversy. If researchers wish to inform public policies related to reproductive technologies, they must understand how the scientific enterprise is being manipulated and research findings are being misrepresented to justify a particular social agenda and restrict access to contraception and abortion. To counter these distortions, scientists must defend the science advisory process, be involved in dissemination of their research findings beyond simple publication in scientific journals, and actively work to ensure that the findings are not misrepresented to the public .     

Electoral Politics, Ideology and American Social Policy

This article addresses the politics of social policy in the context of the 2004 American presidential election. It examines the divisions in American society and their distinctive agendas. It also explores the record of the Bush administration on key social policy issues and shows how it relates to the broader conservative tradition as well as to the Clinton administration's reform of welfare. Finally, it examines the election results. The article argues that the Bush administration has a distinctive agenda on social policy issues and that its approach is likely to reduce further the role of the social government in the provision of social policy, by emphasizing market forces and philanthropy as well as cutting taxes. It also notes, however, that the Bush administration has taken a strong stance on traditional moral values and that its opposition to abortion and homosexuality is an important part of its political strategy.     

Welfare Generosity,Abortion Access,and Abortion Rates: A Comparison of State Policy Tools*

Objective. This article tests if welfare generosity is related to abortion rates, allowing effects to vary by program type and abortion policy context. Methods. Measuring welfare generosity with respect to cash assistance, family caps, Medicaid, child care and family leave policies, I estimate fixed effects models of abortion rates in 48 U.S. states over 1987–2000. Results. More expansive family leave laws are associated with lower abortion rates. In states that do not enforce any of three key abortion policies, increased Medicaid eligibility and child care spending predict higher abortion rates. For Medicaid, this relationship diminishes and reverses itself as states add abortion regulations. Conclusion. Welfare state expansions may help reduce abortion, but programs' effects are not unambiguously pro‐natalist. Estimated impacts of welfare generosity on abortion rates vary by program, and some with abortion policy context.     

From Every Tribe and Nation? Blacks and the Christian Right*

Objectives. The Christian Right is predominantly made up of white evangelicals but in recent years, the movement has attempted to include African Americans in social policy initiatives. This article examines support for the Christian Right from African Americans. Methods. The article is based on an analysis of data from the 1996 and 2000 National Election Studies and data from the Religion and Politics Survey, 2000. Results. The study finds that social conservatism does not predict support for the Christian Right from blacks like it does for whites but that evangelical affiliation predicts support from both groups. Black women are more likely to support the organization than are black men. Conclusions. The insignificant effect of social conservatism on blacks' attitudes toward the Christian Right raises questions as to how the movement can best appeal to this minority group. At the very least, the Christian Right does not appear to have solidified support from African Americans on the basis of shared convictions related to abortion and gay rights. Support for the Christian Right from African Americans remains difficult to measure and largely unpredictable.     

Biased abortion counseling laws and abortion demand

Since the U.S. Supreme Court's 1992 Casey decision many states have enacted biased abortion counseling laws. These laws mandate that abortion providers furnish to women with unwanted pregnancies state-approved medical information about possible side effects from having an abortion that are false. The most egregious falsehoods are that abortion is linked to mental health problems (e.g., suicide, postabortion traumatic stress syndrome, and depression), breast cancer, infertility and fetal pain. This paper investigates whether these four biased abortion falsehoods have an impact on the demand for abortions in the year 2000. The empirical results find that these four biased abortion falsehoods have no significant impact on the abortion demand of pregnant women of childbearing age (15–44 years), adult pregnant women (18–44 years) or pregnant teen minors (15–17 years). The findings remain robust even after controlling for regional differences in antiabortion attitudes.     

从女性价值观的角度看出生性别比失衡及其治理

性别选择性人工流引产直接导致了出生性别比的异常偏高,而父母的性别价值观通过影响人口流引产而对出生性别比产生影响。解决出生性别比失衡问题应该从提升女性的社会地位、承认女性的社会价值以及养老社会化以解除父母的后顾之忧等角度入手。     

实践的紧迫性

紧迫性是实践的本质属性之一,实践紧迫性在思想史上却遭到长期遮蔽。布迪厄虽然曾多次提到这一议题,但从未有过专题论述。本文对实践紧迫性做了现象学社会学深描,澄清了它的三重必不可少的意蕴。通过考察人们对以独具时代特征的样式现身的实践紧迫性的体验,阐明了其所包含的三层意涵,同时揭示它对被诸事缠身的现代人的社会性情与心灵习性造成的影响。从实践紧迫性的意蕴,尤其是现代性情境下的实践紧迫性体验及其后果出发,本文重构了"实践紧迫性"这个具有生产性的概念,从而揭示了实践紧迫性及其体验之于理解与解释社会的可能性,至于实践紧迫性概念的其他理论意义则有待未来的探索。     

论社工教学中社工元素的融入与应用

目前,社会需要大量的社工专业人才,但社工人才流失却很严重。社工教育对学生社工实务能力的培养有限,学生对专业的认同也不够,是导致社工人才流失的部分原因。在社工教学中融入社工元素有助于改变这一现状。文章分享了将社工元素融入社工教学的一些经验,并尝试提出相应的社工教学改革建议,以促进教学质量。     

大陆与台湾失踪儿童青少年协寻工作的比较分析

儿童青少年遭遇诱拐及逃家是中国大陆和台湾热议的社会现象和社会问题之一。笔者通过在台湾实习经历以及对大陆与台湾失踪儿童青少年协寻工作开展状况的深入了解,就两岸失踪儿童青少年协寻工作进行比较研究,提出借鉴台湾经验、提高大陆失踪儿童青少年协寻工作水平的建议。     

Fetal Positions: Unraveling the Influence of Religion on Premarital Pregnancy Resolution*

Objective. This study illustrates the ways religiosity and denominational affiliation influence the probability that a young woman will have an abortion. Methods. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), measures of sexual behavior, out‐of‐wedlock pregnancy, and out‐of‐wedlock pregnancy resolution are regressed on religiosity and denominational affiliation. Results. Religiosity indirectly reduces the likelihood that a woman will have an abortion by reducing the probability that she will have an out‐of‐wedlock pregnancy. Among women who conceive out of wedlock, religiosity increases the likelihood of marriage before birth, and thereby reduces the probability of abortion. However, among women who conceive out of wedlock and do not marry before birth, religiosity is unrelated to the probability of having an abortion. Conclusions. Religiosity affects the probability that a woman will obtain an abortion more through its influence on choices about sex and marriage, and less through its influence on attitudes about abortion.     

Social Work Student Interest in Nursing Home Employment: A North American Study

Nursing homes (NHs) are a primary setting for gerontological social work; yet, little is known about social workers' career interest relative to this setting. This article reports the findings of an online survey of social work students (177 US and 91 Canadian) that sought to identify personal characteristics and beliefs that influence NH employment intentions. Students who were enrolled in bachelors programs, lacked previous practice experience, and had already had a NH field placement or wanted this experience were more likely to express employment intent. The implications of these findings for social work education and research are discussed.     

The Monitoring of Co-Active Learning in Social Groupwork

Various ways of monitoring different levels of experiential learning for social groupwork practice are explored in this pilot study. A systematic means for monitoring and evaluating the learning experience is presented. The responses of one social work class (N=60) show increased comfort in all four aspects of the learning experience except in application to group situations in which students did not have direct experience. Synchronizing the learning in all aspects is therefore important. The concept of "coactive learning" is presented to guide the teaching for social groupwork practice, and the monitoring of the learning. Some limitations and further implications of the approach are discussed.     

Feminism,the state,and the centrality of reproduction: abortion struggles in 1970s Italy

This article analyses an episode of intense socio-political conflict over the question of abortion in 1970s Italy. Considering the shifting positions of feminist groups and other pro-legalization actors on the one hand, and institutions, political parties and the Church on the other, it offers a new analysis of social mobilization, leading to parliamentary debate and legal change. It presents an original approach to an understanding of feminist challenges to patriarchal cultures and institutions, and of the latter’s immediate responses. Focusing on Italy but referring to developments in other industrialized countries, the article inscribes the history of the battle for reproductive rights in 1970s Italy within a framework centred on the Foucauldian notion of biopolitical power. It is argued that the legal settling of the issue came to be seen by state actors as central to the wider socio-political stabilization of the country. For feminists, the question of abortion was less straightforward than is often assumed. Italian feminist debate, while visibly impacting on wider society, was marked by dilemmas around the private and the public, the relationship to the state, and concerns around centring the feminist agenda on reproduction.     

The social networks of young people in Ireland with experience of long‐term foster care: some lessons for policy and practice

This paper presents findings from the first study of the social networks of a group of young people in Ireland who have experienced long‐term foster care. The study group was composed of two groups of young people, a group who were currently in care and a group who had left the care system. The central focus was to examine the impact of foster care on the social network experience of the young people. Findings indicated that foster care impacts on the young people's social network experience in the following ways: losing contact with extended family; a greater challenge in making and sustaining friendships; an impact on education; and an inability to maintain contact with groups and activities that are of significance. This paper also presents recommendations in relation to policy and practice, including the raising of awareness of the importance of a social network approach in working with young people with care experience.     

How does family homelessness impact on children's development? A critical review of the literature

Family homelessness is a key social issue across many European countries and is associated with uncertainty, a lack of safety and increased risks for children which can trigger the involvement of child welfare services. Living in homeless accommodation during the early years of a child's life also has the potential to impact on a child in many ways, for example, academically, physically, emotionally and socially. In the current paper, the authors review existing literature regarding the impact of family homelessness on children's development in order to identify key messages for social work practitioners working with children and families experiencing homelessness, for example, in the field of child protection and welfare. Findings reveal that family homelessness impacts on various aspects of a child's world and ultimately on their development, as a result of reduced social networks, inappropriate space to facilitate play, increased school mobility and school-dropout rates and increased levels of behavioural challenges and mental health concerns. These findings are discussed with relevance to social work practice when working with children and families who experience homelessness and how social work professionals can address the developmental needs of children who experience homelessness. Implications regarding future research and the education and training of social workers are also explored.