Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

In the United States, unintended pregnancy is a serious health, social, and economic concern. However, the existing prevention policies have proven ineffective at decreasing the rate of unintended pregnancy at a national level. This lack of effective national prevention policy is better understood when viewed through the lens of a policy theory that incorporates an understanding of social construction and its effects on policy development. Through the application of one such policy theory, this article explores how the social construction of fertile women in the United States affects previous and recently enacted unintended pregnancy prevention policies.

Keywords

public health women’s health political action

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bey, J. (2012, March 2). Rush Limbaugh’s attack on Sandra Fluke was hate speech. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/post/rush-limbaughs-attack-on-sandra-fluke-was-hate-speech/2012/03/02/gIQAZVxrmR_blog.html.

Biggs

M. A.

Foster

D. G.

(2013) Misunderstanding the risk of conception from unprotected and protected sex. Women’s Health Issues 23(1): e47–e53.

Biggs

M. A.

Karasek

Foster

D. G.

(2012) Unprotected intercourse among women wanting to avoid pregnancy: Attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs. Women’s Health Issues 22(3): e311–e318.

Boonstra

H. D.

(2010) Winning campaign: California’s concerted effort to reduce its teen pregnancy rate. Guttmacher Policy Review 13(2): 18–24.

Breheny

Stephens

(2008) A life of ease and immorality: Health professionals’ constructions of mothering on welfare. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology 19: 257–270. doi:10.1002/casp.993.

Breheny

Stephens

(2010) Youth or disadvantage? The construction of teenage mothers in medical journals. Culture, Health, & Sexuality: An International Journal for Research, Intervention and Care 12(3): 307–322.

Chandra

Martinez

G. M.

Abma

J. C.

Jones

(2005) Fertility, family planning, and reproductive health of U.S. women: Data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth. Vital Health Statistics 35(2): 1–160.

Conan, N. (2011, August 16). Does reality TV misrepresent teen parenthood? Talk of the Nation. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2011/08/16/139676173/does-reality-tv-misrepresent-teen-parenthood?ft=1&f=5.

Culley

Hudson

(2009) Commonalities, differences, and possibilities: Culture and infertility in British South Asian communities. In: Culley

Hudson

van Rooij

(eds) Marginalized reproduction: Ethnicity, infertility and reproductive technologies, London, England: Earthscan, pp. 97–116.

10.

Face facts about effectiveness of ECPs (2007) Contraceptive Technology Update 28(6): 68–69.

11.

Farhi, P. (2012, March 28). Limbaugh sees heat over comments turn down to a simmer. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/limbaugh-sees-heat-over-comments-turn-down-to-a-simmer/2012/03/28/gIQAspEKhS_print.html.

12.

File

Crissey

(2010) Voting and registration in the election of November 2008, Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau.

13.

Finer

L. B.

Zolna

M. R.

(2011) Unintended pregnancy in the United States: Incidence and disparities, 2006. Contraception 84(5): 478–485. doi:10.1016/j.contraception.2011.07.013.

14.

Fogel

S. B.

Weitz

T. A.

(2010) Health care refusals: Undermining quality care for women, Los Angeles, CA: National Health Law Program.

15.

Freedman

(2010a) Introduction. Willing and unable: Doctors’ constraints in abortion care, Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, pp. 1–19.

16.

Freedman

(2010b) Practice constraints and the institutionalized buck-passing of abortion care. Willing and unable: Doctors’ constraints in abortion care, Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, pp. 91–117.

17.

Freedman

Landy

Steinauer

(2008) When there’s a heartbeat: Miscarriage management in Catholic-owned hospitals. American Journal of Public Health 98(10): 1774–1778.

18.

Gilliam, F. D. (1999). The “welfare queen” experiment. Nieman Reports. Retrieved from http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reportsitem.aspx?id=102223.

19.

Gold

R. B.

(2001) Title X: Three decades of accomplishment. The Guttmacher report on public policy Vol. 4, New York, NY: The Guttmacher Institute, pp. 5–8.

20.

Grady, D. (2011, September 19). Remark on HPV vaccine could ripple for years. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/health/20hpv.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.

21.

Guttmacher Institute (2008) Improving contraceptive use in the United States (Issue Brief No. 1), New York, NY: Author.

22.

Guttmacher Institute (2012) Facts on unintended pregnancy in the United States (In Brief), New York, NY: Author.

23.

Health and Human Services Press Office. (2011). Affordable care act ensures women receive preventive services at no additional cost. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pres/08/20110801b.html.

24.

Herrman

J. W.

(2006) The voices of teen mothers: The experiences of repeat pregnancy. The American Journal of Maternal Child Nursing 31(4): 243–249.

25.

Herrman

J. W.

(2007) Repeat pregnancy in adolescence: Intentions and decision making. The American Journal of Maternal Child Nursing 32(2): 89–94.

26.

Hudson

R. B.

Gonyea

J. G.

(2012) Baby boomers and the shifting political construction of old age. The Gerontologist 52(2): 272–282. doi:10.1093/geront/gnr129.

27.

Ingram

Schneider

A. L.

deLeon

(2007) Social construction and policy design. In: Sabatier

P. A.

(eds) Theories of the policy process, 2nd ed. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, pp. 93–126.

28.

Institute of Medicine. (2010). Preventive services for women. Retrieved from http://www.iom.edu/Activities/Women/PreventiveServicesWomen.aspx.

29.

Joffe, C. (2011). Why lies about reproductive health issues matter. ANSIRH Blog. Retrieved from http://blog.ansirh.org/2011/09/lies-about-reproductive-health-issues/.

30.

Kelly

(1997) Warning labels: Stigma and popularizing of teen mothers’ stories. Curriculum Inquiry 27(2): 165–186.

31.

Media Matters Staff. (2012, April 11). The Rush Limbaugh show (March 1 ed.) [Radio]. Available from http://mediamatters.org/video/2012/03/01/limbaugh-sandra-fluke-is-having-so-much-sex-its/155137.

32.

Monea

Thomas

(2011) Unintended pregnancy and taxpayer spending. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health 43(2): 88–93. doi:10.1363/4308811.

33.

Moos

M. K.

(2004) Preconceptional health promotion: Progress in changing a prevention paradigm. Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing 18(1): 2–13.

34.

Moos

M. K.

(2010) From concept to practice: Reflection on the preconception health agenda. Journal of Women’s Health 19(3): 561–567.

35.

Office of the Press Secretary. (2012). Women’s preventive services and religious institutions. Retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/02/10/fact-sheet-women-s-preventive-services-and-religious-institutions.

36.

Office of the Surgeon General, & Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health. (1979). Healthy people: The surgeon general’s report on health promotion and disease prevention (Publication No. 79-55071). Washington, DC: United States Public Health Service. Retrieved from http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/ResourceMetadata/NNBBGL.

37.

Rosenberg

M. J.

Waugh

M. S.

Long

(1995) Unintended pregnancies and use, misuse, and discontinuation of oral contraceptives. Journal of Reproductive Medicine 40(5): 355–360.

38.

Scaccia, A. (2011). Religious exemptions and contraceptive coverage: How far can denial go and still be constitutional? RH Reality Check. Retrieved from http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/print/17589.

39.

Singh

Sedge

Hussain

(2010) Unintended pregnancy: Worldwide levels, trends, and outcomes. Studies in Family Planning 41(4): 241–250.

40.

Smith

(2013) Beyond pro-choice versus pro-life: Women of color and reproductive justice. National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA) Journal 17(1): 119–141.

41.

Sonfield

Kost

Gold

R. B.

Finer

L. B.

(2011) The public costs of births resulting from unintended pregnancies: National and state-level estimates. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health 43(2): 94–102. doi:10.1363/4309411.

42.

Taylor

S. Jr.

(2012) Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate facing more than 40 lawsuits from religious groups. MedCity News. Retrieved from http://medcitynews.com/2012/12/obamacares-contraceptive-mandate-facing-more-than-40-lawsuits-from-religious-groups/.

43.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2010a). Family planning − Objectives. Retrieved from http://healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/objectiveslist.aspx?topicid=13.

44.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2010b). Family planning − Overview. Retrieved from http://healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/overview.aspx?topicid=13.

45.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2012). Affordable care act rules on expanding access to preventive services for women. Retrieved from http://www.healthcare.gov/news/factsheets/2011/08/womensprevention08012011a.html.

46.

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. (1995). Counseling to prevent unintended pregnancy. In Guide to clinical preventive services: Report of the U.S. preventive services task force (2nd ed., pp.739–754). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved from http://odphp.osophs.dhhs.gov/pubs/guidecps/PDF/Frontmtr.PDF.

47.

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. (2012). The guide to clinical preventive services (Publication No. 12-05154). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Retrieved from http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/clinicians-providers/guidelines-recommendations/guide/guide-clinical-preventive-services.pdf.

48.

White

M. J.

Olson

R. S.

(2004) Factors affecting membership in specialty nursing organizations. Rehabilitation Nursing 29(4): 131–137.

49.

Wilson

Huntington

(2006) Deviant (m)others: The construction of teenage motherhood in contemporary discourse. Journal of Social Policy 35(1): 59–76. doi:10.1017/s0047279405009335.

50.

Ziebland, S., Wyke, S., Seaman, P., Fairhurst, K., Walker, J., & Glasier, A. (2005). What happened when Scottish women were given advance supplies of emergency contraception? A survey and qualitative study of women's views and experiences. Social Science & Medicine, 60, 1767–1779. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.08.022.

“Welfare Queens” and “Teen Moms”: How the Social Construction of Fertile Women Impacts Unintended Pregnancy Prevention Policy in the United States

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References