Unsafe abortion is a worldwide reproductive health issue and a contributing factor of high numbers of maternal death in the developing world. Many international conferences and assemblies acknowledge the issue and urge governments to take action. Abortion is a phenomenon surrounded by strong opinions, many times regulated by restrictive laws as well as socio-ethical, religious and cultural norms. Factors often active in making abortion a clandestine procedure which take place under unsafe conditions.The Philippines have one of the most restrictive laws on abortion in the world, but it does not diminish the occurrence of abortion in the country. There is unmet need for family planning that in turn makes way for unwanted pregnancies ending in unsafe abortion. Attempts in congress aiming at providing universal reproductive health service are being opposed and the issue of abortion is surrounded by its criminal ban and a great social stigma. The Roman Catholic Church is very present in the Philippine society and also offers a powerful voice against abortion and equally rejects modern contraception.This study look into how the issue of abortion – under its criminal ban – is being dealt with and if there are any actors/groups/organisations of social work, within the reproductive health sector or women’s organisations acting upon this, making abortion an issue and a part of their work. It asks if there is any advocacy for abortion in the Philippines and any interventions for the women concerned. If so, how is abortion spoken about and understood and how is that notion put into action? Groups are identified as either anti-abortion or pro-abortion, two discourses addressing abortion as a public health issue in fundamentally different ways.There are groups that might not be public about their opinion being pro-abortion, as they do not wish to get on the wrong side of the general opinion or negatively affect their reputation. Some pro-abortion groups are found acting against the law by providing safe abortions for these women. Trough social constructivist glasses this study look at the structure surrounding abortion in the Philippines, analysing how these discourses are being reconstructed and transferred under different postulations as anti-abortion or pro-abortion.

Abiotic stresses impact cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) affecting physiological, molecular, morphological, and agronomic parameters. One of the main yield components in cotton production is the number of bolls per unit area. However, boll abortion is increased when cotton experiences various stresses during its reproductive development that can consequently reduce lint yield. Prior to abscission, a burst in ethylene is observed which may be assumed to be the signal necessary to initiate abscission of that particular structure. It is desirable to prevent fruit loss that may be induced by the peak in ethylene prior to abscission. One potential option to cope with the loss of cotton reproductive structures is the use of ethylene inhibitors. The overall objective of this research was to establish if 1-MCP would synergize, ameliorate, or overcome the effects of abiotic stresses on physiological, molecular, morphological, and agronomic parameters of cotton plants under abiotic stress conditions in field and greenhouse studies. Field and greenhouse experiments were conducted from 2007 to 2009 as a randomized complete block design with four replications in the field, and as a 2x2 factorial design in a split-block arrangement with five replications in the greenhouse. Field treatments consisted of three rates of 1-MCP (0, 25 and 50 g a.i. ha-1) in combination with a surfactant applied at mid-bloom. One day later, ethephon (synthetic ethylene) was applied as a source of abiotic stress. Greenhouse treatments were two 1-MCP rates (0 and 2.4 g a.i. L-1) during a14-h overnight incubation that were then subjected to two water regimes (control and stressed) as the source of stress. Greenhouse assessments with gas exchange analysis revealed that water deficit stress started to impact plants at a moderate water stress, 5 days after 1-MCP treatment (DAT) and a water potential (ψw) of -1.4 MPa. The 1-MCP increased water use efficiency in well-watered plants at 1 DAT. Many of the yield components, plant mapping, and biomass parameters investigated were detrimentally affected by drought. However, drought increased specific leaf weight, chlorophyll content, and harvest index. The 1- MCP improved reproductive node numbers mainly during drought, but did not lead to a better harvest index, since 1-MCP caused high abscission. Ethylene synthesis and molecular investigations in greenhouse conditions showed that at 1, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13 DAT, ethylene production of stressed plants never exceeded those of control plants. As the ψw became more negative ethylene production rate was reduced among stressed plants independent of 1-MCP treatments. However, at 1 DAT 1-MCP caused a transient climacteric stage (ethylene synthesis increase) in leaves. The two primary genes associated with ethylene synthesis, ACS6 (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid synthase) and ACO2 (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid oxidase) expression generally showed an identical trend that supported the ethylene synthesis data. The 1-MCP did not ameliorate any of the detrimental effects of water stress on gas exchange at the point where it started to impact cotton plants. 1-MCP had little or no positive effect on plant mapping, dry matter partitioning and chlorophyll content. Field investigations revealed that at harvest, fruit set in the upper portion of the canopy was influenced by 1- MCP. This portion of the canopy had a greater number of full size, yet immature bolls, which potentially could have had a positive influence on the lint yield. However, ethephon caused the highest lint yield since ethephon treated plants had more open bolls and total bolls in the lower canopy at harvest.

Claims asserting that abortion harms the mental, physical and emotional health of women have recently gained influence among the judicial and legislative branches of government as well as the general public. While there is a growing body of literature on the place of such women-protective arguments in the contemporary abortion debate, comparatively little has been written on the origins of such claims. This paper traces the role of women-protective claims within the anti-abortion movement from the early nineteenth century to the present, using a variety of primary source material, including medical and scientific texts, legal documents, and lay and popular publications. Special attention is given to the role of physicians in the abortion debate and, accordingly, primary source materials authored by physicians are used extensively. By following these women-protective arguments, this paper shows that while women-protective claims emerged as early as the nineteenth century as part of the first American movement to criminalize abortion, a distinct women-protective strategy was created by anti-abortion activists during the 1980s in an attempt to re-criminalize abortion by both increasing popular resistance to abortion and to posing a legal challenge to Roe v. Wade. In addition, this paper demonstrates that the modern women-protective strategy relied on a depiction of women as helpless victims who needed the government to save them from making their own decisions and restore them to their natural role as mothers.

Abortion is a difficult topic to discuss and grasp. Whether it is a dilemma of personal morals and ethics, religion, or simply the nature of the act – the privacy and intimacy of an abortion often causes uneasiness when discussing. To make matters more difficult, there are many issues to consider in addition to deciding whether one wants to attain an abortion; social stigma, cost, parental consent, procedure availability, and more may exacerbate the woman’s situation. In Hong Kong, where the number of legal abortion procedures are limited in public hospitals and costs soar to extreme amounts, many women seeking abortions fall through the cracks and must seek alternative ways of having this time-sensitive procedure fulfilled. As Hong Kong continues to Westernize and liberally develop into comparably one of the most advanced cities in the world, it is important to note that Hong Kong law does not permit a women to rightfully attain a abortion by mere free will. This report seeks to analyze the trials and tribulations that women must face to prevent the need of an abortion as well as the difficulties in procuring one. The methods of researching articles through scholarly sources is detailed and depicted with a flowchart; reasons for inclusion and exclusion are noted. Entailed in the results section is also a comprehensive analysis of the gaps in Hong Kong’s abortion laws; discussed are the problems women endure when trying to satisfy Hong Kong’s legal requirements for abortion procedures as well as when they avoid the legal and/or medical system altogether. Supporting evidence, facts, and figures of historical prices and methods of abortions are displayed in the results section to support the dissertation argument. Finally, a discussion involving recommendations and how to move forward are suggested in order to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and therefore abortions in Hong Kong. / published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

This dissertation contains three essays analyzing how families form and how family members interact. The first chapter studies and connects recent trends in age at marriage and divorce. The second chapter looks within marriages to analyze household bargaining. The final chapter examines the effects on cohort characteristics of the changes in fertility induced by the legalization of abortion. In my first essay, I explore the extent to which the rise in age at marriage can explain the rapid decrease in divorce rates for cohorts marrying from 1980 to 2004. Three different empirical approaches all demonstrate that an increase in women’s age at marriage can explain at least 60 percent of the decline in the hazard of divorce since 1980. I further develop and simulate an integrated model of the marriage market to demonstrate that monotone decreases in gains to marriage could lead to both the initial rise in divorce and its subsequent fall. My second essays analyzes the impact of the early 1990s state waivers from welfare guidelines to understand how changes in options outside of marriage affect household expenditures. Welfare waivers decreased the public assistance available to impoverished divorced women and thereby reduced a woman’s bargaining threat point in marriage. Using expenditure data and an empirical synthetic control approach, I find that decreases in potential welfare benefits altered the expenditure patterns of two-parent families containing less-educated or stay-at-home mothers. The changes in expenditure patterns suggest that reductions in a wife’s outside options cause her utility within marriage to decline. My third essay examines how cohorts whose mothers had legal and safe access to abortion differ from those whose mothers did not. Using both birth certificate and wage data, I demonstrate that granting women access to abortion led to changes in child characteristics, even among groups of children born within months or weeks of each other. Analysis further suggests that soon after legalization, women used abortion to better-time their births. Moreover, access to abortion increased the eventual wages of low-wage, black, and Hispanic workers but not the wages of whites or high-wage workers. / Economics

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Modernioje visuomenėje dažnai iškeliamas žmogaus gyvenimo fundamentaliosios vertybės, o kultūriniai pokyčiai įtakoja požiūrį į mirtį. Medicinos galia prailginti gyvenimą išaugo, tuo pačiu sustiprėjo moralės klausimai. Žmonės pradėjo rūpintis ne tik tuo, kaip prailginti gyvenimą, bet ir "lengva mirtimi", kuri gali sumažinti kančias. Pasikeitė eutanazijos sąvoka. Ji dabar reiškė gydytojų galią prailginti ar sutrumpinti gyvenimą. Atsirado aktyvi ir pasyvi eutanazija. Reikėtų skirti šias sąvokas. Gydymo netaikymo negalima laikyti žmogžudyste. Tačiau mirties paspartininas išlieka šiandienai atviru, aktualiu ir diskutuotinu moralės klausimu. / This paper provides the results of research about modern society, in which even the fundamental values of human life are often called into question, cultural change exercises an influence upon the way of looking at suffering and death. Medicine nowadays has increased its capacity to cure and to prolong life in particular circumstances, which sometimes give rise to moral problems. The criteria for withholding/withdrawing treatments, namely, futility or excessive burdensomeness, are not chosen in order to carry out a proposal to end the person’s life, but rather to avoid useless effort or the excessive burden or continuing to provide such means. This is not an act of killing and doctor even is obliged to allow a patient in such situations to die his or her own natural death. However in this work the problem was found having no simple and obvious solution. Even among intellectual most influential elite of society, educationalists, it was impossible to have a consensus. Each group tried to emphasize special aspects of their own working experience, and agreed that the problem is as complex as the question of abortion. Lithuanian educationalists agreed upon the need of such discussions, and that young Lithuanians have to be better informed about the topic. However they were found not ready to legalize euthanasia yet even in some exceptional circumstances, but rather suggest carrying the decision out for further generations. Thus the question remains open for the future research and... [to full text]

Introduction: Despite the availability of contraceptives, some women still seek an induced abortion. If these women are known, they can be targeted for intensive contraceptive counseling. An accessible termination of pregnancy health facility can also be provided to those who still wish to have an abortion. Aim: To determine the characteristics of women having first trimester induced termination of pregnancy in Newcastle Provincial Hospital in Amajuba district. Methods: Quantitative retrospective chart review. Seven hundred and fifty eight women had an induced first trimester abortion between 1st January and 31st December 2008 at Newcastle Provincial Hospital. The medical records of 254 were systematically sampled and the data obtained from these medical records were analyzed descriptively. Results: Most women (75%) were aged between 20 and 34 years. The commonest age was 23 years while the mean age was 25.27 years. Two percent were less than 16 years of age. Ninety seven percent of the sample were of African race, 75.6% reported having at least one child alive, 93.3% were single, 70.1% of the women reside in Newcastle sub-district while 19.7% reside outside Amajuba district. Eighty nine percent of the women were not using any contraception before the pregnancy that was terminated. Four (1.6%) women had previously had a termination of pregnancy. Fifty eight percent of the women requested abortion between 9 and 12 weeks of gestation (commonest gestational age was 8 weeks). Seventy four percent of the women were self-referred. Ninety six percent of the women reported having an abortion because of socio-econornic reasons. Only 69.7% disclosed their intention to procure abortion to a second person. Every woman was counseled before her pregnancy was terminated. Conclusions: In our patient population, women who are more likely to have an induced first trimester abortion are: in their twenties; African; single; parous; sexually active and not using any contraceptive; residing in Newcastle sub-district and of poor socioeconomic status. These groups of women should be targeted for intensive contraceptive counseling. The proportion of women who are less than 16 years of age shows that statutory rape is still a challenge in South Africa and deserves more attention. Further study is needed to establish if the location of Newcastle Provincial Hospital is denying women living in other sub-districts in Amajuba (apart from Newcastle sub-district) the opportunity to procure an induced abortion. Such a study will thus guide the place where future termination of pregnancy services may be established in Amajuba. / Thesis (M.Med.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

Unsafe abortion claims the lives of thousands of women every year. Globally, it is the women in Sub-Saharan Africa who face the highest risk of death and injury from abortion-related complications (Ahman & Shah 2011, p.123). Current global and national efforts to reduce incidences of unsafe abortion are ineffective in the rural Ghanaian community where this research was undertaken. This anthropological examination of key aspects of contemporary local social practice and the norms and customs which underpin it, demonstrates the necessity for many local women to utilise a dangerous plant to facilitate potentially fatal self-induced abortions as their primary means of resisting culturally-defined fertility patterns. This thesis is broadly structured around anthropologists’ Scheper-Hughes’ and Lock’s (1987, p.6) concept of three intersectional bodily perspectives: the phenomenological individual body-self, the social body and the body as an artefact of political control. The reader is offered insight from each of these perspectives into the social practice of unsafe abortion in the lives of rural Ghanaian women. I argue that unsafe abortion can be seen as a kind of social struggle against the local economic mode of production. The thesis provides an analysis of the position of many women within local relations of production from a neo-Marxist perspective which has been modified by concepts of class and exploitation particular to pre-industrialist societies. The modifications are taken from the theoretical positions of French anthropologists Terray (1975), Meillassoux (1972) and P.P Rey (1975). In addition, following the work of critical medical anthropologist Scheper-Hughes (1993), the thesis demonstrates the ways in which medical discourses and policy output about family planning and reproductive health which are produced and reproduced at the level of the national body politic, obscure more deeply embedded powerful ideologies and social praxis about female sexuality and reproduction which is produced and reproduced at the level of the social body within the context of popular interpretations of tradition and customary law. Ultimately, I argue that current Programmes of Action aimed at reducing incidences of unsafe abortion fail to address patterns of gender violence and patriarchal control by medicalising some village women’s social suffering.

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