Women have always been cautious about pregnancy and child birth because of the health risk to the mother. There are endless things that can go wrong during the reproductive process. You could have ectopic pregnancy, pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, bleeding, child in a breech position, nuchal cord... the list goes on and on. Now all of these issues can be taken care of by professional health care workers. But before hospitals and obstetricians women had to figure it out for themselves and their families. Having children was not only a health risk but also an economic decision.
Women controlled fertility in many ways throughout history. Funny enough, the men of ancient greece only write about how they have nothing to do with it... seems familiar. In Europe, some cultures wouldn't marry until they passed the ages of fertility. Other cultures, like the Crete, practised homosexuality to control fertility.
Abortion was also a popular choice in the ancient world because they did not see the fetus as a human, instead they saw it as "having the potential to become human" and considered it part of the mother until birth.
The Christian Church has changed their minds quite a bit about fertility throughout history. First teaching men how to avoid the evil of women. Apparently women were ready to pounce and take advantage of men at any chance they got. Then the church became ambivalent about women, and then they decided women shouldn't have any say in the matter of reproduction. Men even tried casting spells on their women to make them more fertile and have children.
An interesting point from more recent history is that "Feminists particularly worry that the new medical technologies are shifting the attention of doctors from the mother to the fetus as patient." This shift occured because people began to think of the fetus as a human not part of the mother.
Of course abstinence has the greatest effect on fertility. The most popular mode through out history of fertility control seems to be abortion. Although abortion rates vary depending on the cultural view of whether or not the unborn child is human or not when still in the womb.
Picture can be found here.
Yes, various ways of preventing pregrancy.
ReplyDeletePrevention can occur naturally by disease of any form either known or unknown to the human.
It might also be by abortion but the most effective and popular prevention is ABSTINENCE.
What is your opinion about the fetus do you believe that it is a living being and she be treated as such or do you think that it's part of the mother as they believed in the ancient world?
ReplyDeleteScientifically we know that the fetus is a being by itself and not part of the mother. But I think women should have the right to choose to have an abortion. Saying that, I think there comes a point during pregnancy that an abortion should be discouraged. I think women should have the abortion done as soon as possible if that what they wish. These are the sort of moral issues health care providers deal with everyday.
ReplyDeleteI agree that women always have to be careful when they are carrying a child because so many things can go wrong. It is believable that doctors are starting to see the fetuses as their patients instead of the mother.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting fact I learned in my studies. In Ancient Greece it was the standard that only one in four women would give birth successfully. Good read.
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