History
See also: History of abortion, History of condoms, and Timeline of reproductive rights legislationEarly ways of preventing unwanted pregnancy included withdrawal and various alternatives to intercourse; they are difficult to use correctly and, while much better than no method, have high failure rates compared to modern methods. Various devices and medications thought to have spermicidal, contraceptive, abortifacient or similar properties were also used.
Abortions have been induced to prevent unwanted births since antiquity, abortion methods are described in some of the earliest medical texts. The degree of safety of early methods relative to the risks of child birth is unclear.
Infanticide (‘customary neonaticide’) or abandonment (sometimes in the form of exposure) are other traditional way of dealing with babies that were not wanted or that a family could not support. Opinions on the morality or desirability of the practices have changed through history.
Where modern contraceptives are not available, abortion has sometimes been used as a major way of preventing birth. For instance in much of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics in the 1980s, desired family size was small, but modern contraceptive methods were not readily available, so many couples relied on abortion, which was legal, safe, and readily accessible, to regulate births. In many cases, as contraceptives became more available the rate of unintended pregnancy and abortion dropped rapidly during the 1990s.
In the 19th and 20th century, the desired number of pregnancies has declined as reductions in infant and childhood mortality have increased the probability that children will reach adulthood. Other factors, such as level of education and economic opportunities for women, have also lead to reductions in the desired number of children. As the number of desired number of children decreases, couples spend more of their reproductive lives trying to avoid unintended pregnancies.
Read more about this topic: Unintended Pregnancy
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Well, for us, in history where goodness is a rare pearl, he who was good almost takes precedence over he who was great.”
—Victor Hugo (18021885)
“I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called History is. How many times must we say Rome, and Paris, and Constantinople! What does Rome know of rat and lizard? What are Olympiads and Consulates to these neighboring systems of being? Nay, what food or experience or succor have they for the Esquimaux seal-hunter, or the Kanaka in his canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
“History, as an entirety, could only exist in the eyes of an observer outside it and outside the world. History only exists, in the final analysis, for God.”
—Albert Camus (19131960)