Affordable Birth Control in America Essay

Affordable Birth Control in America Essay Affordable Birth Control Methodologies in America Sociology Essay Sample Affordable Birth Control Methodologies in America Sociology Essay Sample Affordable Birth Control for All The paper describes a considerable issue of American society reflected in a great number of unintended pregnancies. Young unmarried women have the highest rates of unwanted and mistimed pregnancies. In majority of cases these pregnancies lead to abortions and facilitate numerous physical and psychological issues. All these problems can be avoided through the use of affordable birth control methodologies (the use of condoms, hormonal intrauterine devices, pills, special rings, etc.). These methodologies have both positive and negative sides. On the one hand, they can increase promiscuousness of the youth and risk of sexually transmitted diseases. On the other, they will prevent overpopulation and lower governmental expenses, enable family planning, improve mother and child’s health, and decrease teen abortions. Discussions provided in this paper support the idea that affordable birth control methods will have positive impact on a family, community of the United States of America, and the nation in general. This essay will provide an analysis of statistical information concerning the amount of unintended pregnancies on the territory of the USA. These pregnancies could be prevented by the use of numerous affordable birth control methodologies (for example, the use of contraceptives). Both positive and negative sides of using affordable birth control methodologies will be discussed below. Much attention will be paid to the pregnancy prevention among young women. All discussions will be supported by statistical information from different sources. Nowadays a considerable amount of pregnancies are unintended. There are two types of unintended pregnancies: Mistimed pregnancies are pregnancies, which happen in the time period when women do not want to become pregnant but they plan pregnancy in future. If women did not planned to become pregnant at all (even in future), their pregnancies are considered unwanted. According to the official statistics, only 20 per cent of pregnancies are intended in the USA, 31 per cent of them are mistimed, and 49 per cent are unwanted (Advancing sexual and reproductive health worldwide through research, policy analysis and public education, 2015). So, more than 6 million women do not want to become pregnant each year. It is notable that the majority of these women have low income (13.7 per cent), they are a minority (9.2 per cent of black women), women without high school degree (10.1 per cent) or cohabiting (Advancing sexual and reproductive health worldwide through research, policy analysis and public education, 2015). The number of unintended pregnancies depends greatly on the age of women. Sexually ac tive teenagers have considerably higher rate of unintended pregnancies than sexually active women of the older age. Proportion of young pregnant women who did not wanted to become pregnant increased on about 10 per cent for the last 20 years (Advancing sexual and reproductive health worldwide through research, policy analysis and public education , 2015). Statistical information concerning distribution of unintended pregnancies by mother’s age is presented in the table 1 (Mosher, Jones, Abma, Division of Vital Statistics, 2012). Figures in this table show that women at the age from 15 to 19 years old have considerably higher rate of unintended pregnancies. It is notable that more than 75 per cent of these pregnancies are mistimed, which means that the majority of these women wanted to become pregnant in future. It is noteworthy that number of unintended pregnancies is also dependent on the marital status of women. This statement is supported by figures in the table 2 (Mosher et al., 2012). Figures in this table show that unmarried and not cohabiting women represent the highest rate of pregnant women whose pregnancy is unwanted and mistimed. Unmarried and not cohabiting pregnant women from 15 to 24 years old have the highest rate of unintended pregnancies. Married pregnant women from 24 to 44 years old have the lowest rate of unintended pregnancies. The relevant information is presented in the table 3 (Mosher et al., 2012). Existing medical programs provide help to young women. According to the official statistics, about 68 per cent of expenses on unplanned birth were covered by different public insurance programs, for example, Medicaid (Advancing sexual and reproductive health worldwide through research, policy analysis and public education, 2015). This figure is different in different states. The highest rates of unplanned birth covered by public insurance programs are in the District of Columbia (more than 80 per cent) and in Mississippi (more than 70 per cent) (Advancing sexual and reproductive health worldwide through research, policy analysis and public education, 2015). Both federal and governmental structures are involved in financing of unintended pregnancies. For example, 70 per cent of this financing (about $14 billion) was provided by federal programs, and about 30 per cent of this financing (about $ 6 billion) was provided by state programs (Advancing sexual and reproductive health worldwide through research, policy analysis and public education, 2015). Title X is one of federal programs directed on the improvement of family planning and minimization of unintended pregnancies. In the previous year, more than 1 million of unintended pregnancies and 34 per cent of abortions in the country were avoided due to this program (State Facts about Title X and Family Planning: California, 2014). Also, Title X provides financial support to low income women. Women, Infants and Children program is one more family planning program that provides help in planning of child birth and avoiding unplanned pregnancies in the USA. The primary goal of the above mentioned programs is to provide family planning support, improve people’s physical and mental health, and minimize abortions. It should be noted that abortion rate increased for about 5 per cent for the last 7 years, while unintended pregnancies in about 60 per cent of cases have ended by abortions (Advancing sexual and reproductive health worldwide through research, policy analysis and public education, 2015). Most women consciously put themselves at a risk by not using contraceptives or â€Å"who are using them inconsistently, represent one-third of all women at risk of unintended pregnancy and account for 95% of the three million unintended pregnancies that occur every year† (State Facts about Title X and Family Planning: California, 2014). These women have insufficient understanding of importance of birth planning and negative consequences of unplanned pregnancy. Unplanned pregnancy can be prevented by a great variety of options: condo ms, hormonal intrauterine device, pills, special rings, etc. The main advantage of these options is that they can be used by women of different ages, income, and marital status. These options are readily available all over the country. Most of them have almost 100 per cent effectiveness of pregnancy prevention. Description of these options and methods and their negative and positive sides should be provided by state and federal organizations through specially developed programs. Counter-Argument Despite the above-mentioned advantages of numerous birth control options, they still have some disadvantages. The great variety of low-cost contraceptives can lead to the riskier sexual behavior of youth. Margaret Brown in her work Public health and contraception (2006) stated the following idea: â€Å"contra-contraception movement is based primarily on religiously-inspired concerns that access to contraception of any form promotes promiscuity and free sexual expression outside marriage†. Moreover, the majority of contraceptives (spermicides, female dependent barriers, hormonal contraceptives, etc.) do not provide total protection against sexually transmitted diseases. For example, the use of spermicides leads to the decrease of the possibility of gonorrhea infection only by about twenty five per cent, and cervical chlamydia by about twenty two per cent; female dependent barriers grant low rate of protection against candidiasis (Sanghvi, n.d.). Also, some women cannot use cont raceptives because of different health conditions like history of blood clots, migraine headaches, endometrial cancer, and many others. For example, women who have diabetes related diseases should not take contraceptive pills. Birth Control Helps the Nation to Be Stronger Economically Efficient family planning, decreasing the rate of unintended pregnancy, and lowering the rate of abortion provide such a benefit as decreasing of additional governmental expenses. According to official studies, â€Å"public funding for contraceptive services in 2010 resulted in net public savings of $10.5 billion, or $5.68 for every dollar spent providing contraceptive care† (Frost, Zolna, Frohwirth, 2013). Instead of granting health care services to women with unintended pregnancy, the government can direct this finance on other spheres of social life, for example, education. Moreover, family planning prevents the nation from overpopulation. The decrease of the rate of unintended pregnancy will lead to the decrease of the rate of birth of unwished children who cannot be economically supported by their families and government. These children will not be able to obtain sufficient health care, education, job, and place or relevant position in the society. Birth control helps to minimize these issues. Birth Control Helps in Family Planning Birth control helps young couples to plan the number of children. Application of different contraceptive methods enables people to attain the desired number of children and state spacing between pregnancies. A couple determines whether its financial position and relations are strong enough for having one more child. It is notable that about 10 per cent of women who planned their pregnancies and stopped smoking in 3 months after they become pregnant, have the lower risk of diabetes, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, and postpartum depression (by about 5.1 per cent) (Tailor Cabral, 2002). Moreover, â€Å"women whose pregnancies are unintended are less likely to breastfeed† (Tailor Cabral, 2002). All the above mentioned female health problems caused by unintended pregnancy decrease their lives and empowerment, as women feel themselves suppressed and unsatisfied. Also, planned pregnancies enable making some pauses between pregnancies. Pauses of more than 18 months between pregnancies lead to decreasing a possibility of having low weight or premature babies by about 3 per cent (Tailor Cabral, 2002). These pauses also decrease the risk of undeveloped immune system, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular diseases, obesity, asthma, leukemia, diabetes, and SIDS. Affordable Birth Control Leads to Reduction of Rate of Abortion among the Youth This paper shows that young women have the highest rate of unintended pregnancies and abortions. More than half of teen pregnancies end by abortions (Kost, Henshaw, 2014). The main reasons of abortions are the following: an understanding that having a child will derail reaching of their personal goals; unwillingness to take financial responsibilities; immaturity, etc. Teen abortions lead to numerous personal psychological problems, like severe emotional injures, troubles in future relationships with others, alcohol abuse, suicidal behavior, and self-destruction. Also, young women face a great variety of physical problems after abortion: cervical lacerations, pelvic inflammatory disease, endometritis, infertility, hysterectomy, ectopic pregnancy, higher risk of breast cancer, and other serious complications (Sobie, Reardon, 2001). Clear understanding of the necessity to use contraception and affordable prices on this contraception can lead to a considerable reduction of rates of mistimed and unwanted pregnancies and abortions among young women. Moreover, communication between parents and children concerning sexual activity can provide the above-mentioned understanding and increase sexual safety and awareness of the youth, and improves self-reliance and self-esteem of the youth. According to the official research, a parent-child communication concerning sexual activity leads to increasing the use of condoms during the first intercourse by about 20 per cent (Philliber Research Associates, SRI International – Center for Education Human Services, University of California, San Francisco – Institute for Health Policy Studies, 2003) The current paper provides an understanding that the great amount of unintended pregnancies, especially among the young generation, represents a great issue today. Affordable birth control methodologies can make youth more promiscuous and increase the rate of sexually transmitted diseases. At the same time, they can eliminate numerous psychological and physiological health issues of mothers and children, decrease governmental expenses and reduce teenage abortions. Affordable birth control will have a considerable positive impact on the American society.

The History of Gravity and Aristotle

The History of Gravity and Aristotle One of the most pervasive behaviors that we experience, its no wonder that even the earliest scientists tried to understand why objects fall toward the ground. The Greek philosopher Aristotle gave one of the earliest and most comprehensive attempts at a scientific explanation of this behavior by putting forth the idea that objects moved toward their natural place. This natural place for the element of Earth was in the center of the Earth (which was, of course, the center of the universe in Aristotles geocentric model of the universe). Surrounding the Earth was a concentric sphere that was the natural realm of water, surrounded by the natural realm of air, and then the natural realm of fire above that. Thus, Earth sinks in water, water sinks in the air, and flames rise above air. Everything gravitates toward its natural place in Aristotles model, and it comes across as fairly consistent with our intuitive understanding and basic observations about how the world works. Aristotle further believed that objects fall at a speed that is proportional to their weight. In other words, if you took a wooden object and a metal object of the same size and dropped them both, the heavier metal object would fall at a proportionally faster speed. Galileo and Motion Aristotles philosophy about motion toward a substances natural place held sway for about 2,000 years, until the time of Galileo Galilei. Galileo conducted experiments rolling objects of different weights down inclined planes (not dropping them off the Tower of Pisa, despite the popular apocryphal stories to this effect), and found that they fell with the same acceleration rate regardless of their weight. In addition to the empirical evidence, Galileo also constructed a theoretical thought experiment to support this conclusion. Here is how the modern philosopher describes Galileos approach in his 2013 book Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking: Some thought experiments are analyzable as rigorous arguments, often of the form reductio ad absurdum, in which one takes ones opponents premises and derives a formal contradiction (an absurd result), showing that they cant all be right. One of my favorites is the proof attributed to Galileo that heavy things dont fall faster than lighter things (when friction is negligible). If they did, he argued, then since heavy stone A would fall faster than light stone B, if we tied B to A, stone B would act as a drag, slowing A down. But A tied to B is heavier than A alone, so the two together should also fall faster than A by itself. We have concluded that tying B to A would make something that fell both faster and slower than A by itself, which is a contradiction. Newton Introduces Gravity The major contribution developed by Sir Isaac Newton was to recognize that this falling motion observed on Earth was the same behavior of motion that the Moon and other objects experience, which holds them in place within relation to each other. (This insight from Newton was built upon the work of Galileo, but also by embracing the heliocentric model and Copernican principle, which had been developed by Nicholas Copernicus prior to Galileos work.) Newtons development of the law of universal gravitation, more often called the law of gravity, brought these two concepts together in the form of a mathematical formula that seemed to apply to determine the force of attraction between any two objects with mass. Together with Newtons laws of motion, it created a formal system of gravity and motion that would guide scientific understanding unchallenged for over two centuries. Einstein Redefines Gravity The next major step in our understanding of gravity comes from Albert Einstein, in the form of his general theory of relativity, which describes the relationship between matter and motion through the basic explanation that objects with mass actually bend the very fabric of space and time (collectively called spacetime). This changes the path of objects in a way that is in accord with our understanding of gravity. Therefore, the current understanding of gravity is that it is a result of objects following the shortest path through spacetime, modified by the warping of nearby massive objects. In the majority of cases that we run into, this is in complete agreement with Newtons classical law of gravity. There are some cases which require the more refined understanding of general relativity to fit the data to the required level of precision. The Search for Quantum Gravity However, there are some cases where not even general relativity can quite give us meaningful results. Specifically, there are cases where general relativity is incompatible with the understanding of quantum physics. One of the best known of these examples is along the boundary of a black hole, where the smooth fabric of spacetime is incompatible with the granularity of energy required by quantum physics. This was theoretically resolved by the physicist Stephen Hawking, in an explanation that predicted black holes radiate energy in the form of Hawking radiation. What is needed, however, is a comprehensive theory of gravity that can fully incorporate quantum physics. Such a theory of quantum gravity would be needed in order to resolve these questions. Physicists have many candidates for such a theory, the most popular of which is string theory, but none which yield sufficient experimental evidence (or even sufficient experimental predictions) to be verified and broadly accepted as a correct description of physical reality. Gravity-Related Mysteries In addition to the need for a quantum theory of gravity, there are two experimentally-driven mysteries related to gravity that still need to be resolved. Scientists have found that for our current understanding of gravity to apply to the universe, there must be an unseen attractive force (called dark matter) that helps hold galaxies together and an unseen repulsive force (called dark energy) that pushes distant galaxies apart at faster rates.