Beyond Knocked Up: Unintended Pregnancy, Baby Bumps and Other Pregee  Issues

1. 
   CAROL Cassell      

Overview  On My Research Study

This is an issue to reflect upon....and look  to happier endings.......            

  Over the last several years, it has become obvious to me that the media has been busy romancing celebrity baby bumps while neglecting to mention that for most single women an unplanned pregnancy is an unwelcome personal dilemma.

 The lack of candor about most  women’s and men’s predicaments when faced with a pregnancy they didn’t plan on and don’t want, spurred me to start this research project--one dedicated to telling the honest—even they aren’t pretty—real life stories behind the pregnancy statistics and one that exposes the negative impact of  an unwanted pregnancy in all of the lives it touches.

                 In the research conducted on this site (and in personal interviews) I'll explore the full spectrum of what a woman and a man feel about a surpise pregnancy. I’m well aware that unwanted pregnancy is a tough topic.  It may hit some people too close to home.  And for all of us, it  is heartbreaking and emotionally daunting to consider that a vulnerable and loving child could be unwanted and neglected. But  I’ve headed up many successful projects—with Planned Parenthood and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—that made a significant reduction in the rates of teenage pregnancy.  I’ll bring those experiences to this research along with a sense of optimism that we can turn the tide and reduce the numbers of unplanned and especially unwanted pregnancies, among adults.  

                  Although I am Pro-Choice and believe that abortion should be available and legal, I’m also pro-admitting the complexity of that choice.  I believe it is important revent an unintended pregnancy in the first place and so this research.

Some Facts.... 

• While unplanned pregnancy rates have basically remained unchanged over the last decade among women in their early twenties, they have actually increased among women ages 25-29. Four in ten women in their late twenties report their pregnancy was unintended.
• An unwanted pregnancy isn’t just the plight of women living in poverty or members of a minority group—it crosses income, education, and racial lines.  More than half of all unwanted pregnancies occur to single women in their 20’s, many of whom are white, aren’t poor, and have at least some college education.

•  One of the most surprising facts is that one out of four pregnancies among married women is both unplanned and unwanted!    

Seeking an answer to the big question...

How is it that a woman gets “knocked up” given that contraception is available everywhere? 

  My answers: A)  the siren song of sex is so seductive and powerful that most of us  have thrown caution out of the bedroom window at least once or twice and took a risk by having sex without using effective protection; and B) she didn’t do it all by herself.