Articles
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Abortion Opinion Research in Latin America and
the Caribbean: A Review of the Literature
Eileen A. Yam is Regional Program Associate and Sandra G.
García is Director of Reproductive Health, Population Council,
Mexico City. E-mail:
eyam@popcouncil.org.mx. At the time this study was conducted,
Ingrid Dries-Daffner, now with Pharmacy Access Partnership, Oakland,
CA, was an independent consultant for the Population Council.
Abortion laws in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are highly
restrictive and may not reflect public opinion on the issue. This
article synthesizes the survey literature on attitudes toward abortion
in the region. We searched standard computer indexing services and
polled colleagues at regional meetings to identify every
methodologically sound quantitative study of abortion opinion in LAC
published between 1985 and 2005. Of the 26 studies that met inclusion
criteria, none was conducted in the Caribbean, 11 were conducted in
Brazil, 11 in Mexico, 3 in Argentina, and 1 in Colombia. The majority of
populations surveyed support abortion under a greater number of
circumstances than are permitted in their respective countries,
particularly in cases of rape and threat to life or health. Future
abortion opinion surveys should ask about support for the legality of
abortion rather than about abstract acceptance of abortion, and
questions should be worded carefully to capture the complexities of the
public’s views on this issue. (Studies in Family Planning 2006; 37[4]:
225–240)
- Gender, Migration, Risky Sex, and HIV
Infection in China
Xiushi Yang is Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminal
Justice, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529. E-mail:
xyang@odu.edu. Guomei Xia is
Professor, Institute of Sociology, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
Gender differences in sexual behavior as a consequence of migration
have been ignored in both the migration and the HIV literature in China.
This study examines differences among temporary migrants in terms of
sexual behavior and factors that make female migrants more vulnerable to
the risk of acquiring HIV infection. Results suggest that the interplay
of migration and gender renders female temporary migrants particularly
vulnerable to engaging in casual and commercial sex. Although male
temporary migrants do not differ from male nonmigrants in prevalence of
casual and commercial sex, the prevalence rates of casual and commercial
sex for female temporary migrants are found to be 14 and 80 times those
for female nonmigrants, respectively. Female temporary migrants’ higher
unemployment rate and concentration in the service and entertainment
sectors are keys to understanding differences in the prevalence of
casual and commercial sex among temporary migrants according to sex.
Policy measures to promote female temporary migrants’ equal access to
employment are urgently needed to improve their economic well-being and
to reduce their risky sexual behavior. (Studies in Family Planning 2006;
37[4]: 241–250)
- Factors Related to Induced Abortion among
Young Women in Edo State, Nigeria
Nancy Murray is Senior Scientist, William Winfrey is
Senior Scientist, Minki Chatterji is Senior Research Specialist,
and Scott Moreland is Senior Fellow, Constella Futures, One
Thomas Circle, NW, Suite 200, Washington DC 20005. E-mail:
nmurray@constellagroup.com.
Leanne Dougherty is Monitoring and Evaluation Manager, Private
Sector Partnerships One, Abt Associates, Bethesda, MD. Friday
Okonofua is Executive Director, Women’s Health and Action Research
Center (WHARC), Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria.
Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest death rate from induced abortion
in the world, and young women in southern Nigeria are particularly
likely to terminate their pregnancies. This study assesses the
prevalence of and factors associated with induced abortion among 602
young women aged 15–24 who were surveyed in Edo State, Nigeria, in 2002.
We find that 41 percent of all pregnancies reported by the young women
surveyed were terminated, and we estimate the age-specific abortion rate
for 15–19-year-olds in Edo State at 49 abortions per 1,000 women, which
is slightly higher than previous local estimates and nearly double the
countrywide estimate for women aged 15–49. We construct explanatory
multivariate models to predict the likelihood that a young woman has
experienced sexual intercourse, has become pregnant, and has undergone
an induced abortion, controlling for important demographic and
risk-behavior factors. Young women unmarried at the time of the
interview are found to be significantly more likely than married women
to have had an abortion. Young women who have experienced transactional
or forced sex are also significantly more likely to report ever having
had an abortion, as are young women who have experienced more than one
pregnancy. We conclude with suggestions for modifying the content and
target populations of behavioral change messages and programs in the
area. (Studies in Family Planning 2006; 37[4]: 251–268)
Reports
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Sexual Violence in Lesotho
Lisanne Brown is Assistant Research Professor, Tonya
Thurman is Assistant Research Professor, and Carl Kendall is
Professor, Tulane University Health Sciences Center, School of Public
Health & Tropical Medicine, Department of International Health &
Development, 1440 Canal Street, Suite 2200, New Orleans, LA 70112.
E-mail:
lisanne.brown@tulane.edu. Jeanette Bloem is Project Director,
Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Program, Southern Africa, Family
Health International.
The magnitude and characteristics of sexual violence in two urban
areas of Lesotho are described based on a random household survey of 939
sexually active women aged 18–35. Sexual violence is defined as
nonconsensual sex ranging from the use of threats and intimidation to
unwanted touching and forced sex. Twenty-five percent of women surveyed
reported ever being physically forced to have sex; 13 percent reported
that forced sex was attempted; 31 percent said that they were touched
against their will; and 11 percent reported being forced to touch a
man’s genitals. Boyfriends were the most common perpetrators of actual
and attempted forced sex (66 percent and 44 percent, respectively);
known community members were the most common perpetrators of touching
the respondent against her will (52 percent). Currently married women
and those with more education were less likely than others to report
that sex was forced upon them by an intimate partner or by another type
of perpetrator. Women living in areas where a program raising awareness
about sexual violence was ongoing were more likely to report a history
of sexual violence. Given the high prevalence of HIV in Lesotho,
programs should address women’s right to control their sexuality.
(Studies in Family Planning 2006; 37[4]: 269–280)
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Why Are Infant and Child
Mortality Rates Lower in the MCH-FP Area of Matlab, Bangladesh?
Lauren Hale is Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine,
State University of New York, Stony Brook, HSC Level 3, Room 071, Stony
Brook, NY 11794. E-mail:
lhale@notes.cc.sunysb.edu. Julie DaVanzo is Senior Economist,
RAND Corporation. Abdur Razzaque is Scientist, International
Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B). Mizanur
Rahman is Senior Research Advisor, Pathfinder International.
Infant and child mortality rates are significantly lower in the
Maternal and Child Health–Family Planning (MCH-FP) area of Matlab,
Bangladesh, than in a comparison area. The two areas are similar in
terms of socioeconomic characteristics, but the MCH-FP area provides
better maternal and child health and family planning services, resulting
in different reproductive patterns, including lower fertility rates and
longer intervals between pregnancies. We use data from the Matlab
Demographic Surveillance System for nearly 126,000 singleton live births
that occurred between 1982 and 2002 to investigate the extent to which
the different reproductive patterns in the MCH-FP area explain why
infant and child mortality rates are lower there. Differences in
reproductive patterns account for a small portion (up to 20 percent) of
the variation in these rates between the MCH-FP and comparison areas,
suggesting that the majority of the difference is due to the quality of
MCH services. (Studies in Family Planning 2006; 37[4]: 281–292)
Data
Book Reviews
- Susan Greenhalgh and Edwin A. Winckler
Governing China’s Population: From Leninist to Neoliberal
Biopolitics
Nancy E. Riley is Professor, Department of Sociology and
Anthropology, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine.
- Kent Buse, Nicolas Mays, and Gill Walt
Making Health Policy
Johannes van Dam is Director, Robert H. Ebert Program on
Critical Issues in Reproductive Health, Population Council.
- Christophe Z. Guilmoto and S. Irudaya Rajan, editors
Fertility Transition in South India
D. Jayaraj is Professor, Madras Institute of Development
Studies, Chennai, India.
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