@BOOK{NAP4903, author = "Institute of Medicine", editor = "Sarah S. Brown and Leon Eisenberg", title = "The Best Intentions: Unintended Pregnancy and the Well-Being of Children and Families", isbn = "978-0-309-05230-6", doi = "10.17226/4903", abstract = "Experts estimate that nearly 60 percent of all U.S. pregnancies\u2014and 81 percent of pregnancies among adolescents\u2014are unintended. Yet the topic of preventing these unintended pregnancies has long been treated gingerly because of personal sensitivities and public controversies, especially the angry debate over abortion. Additionally, child welfare advocates long have overlooked the connection between pregnancy planning and the improved well-being of families and communities that results when children are wanted.\nNow, current issues\u2014health care and welfare reform, and the new international focus on population\u2014are drawing attention to the consequences of unintended pregnancy. In this climate The Best Intentions offers a timely exploration of family planning issues from a distinguished panel of experts.\nThis committee sheds much-needed light on the questions and controversies surrounding unintended pregnancy. The book offers specific recommendations to put the United States on par with other developed nations in terms of contraceptive attitudes and policies, and it considers the effectiveness of over 20 pregnancy prevention programs.\nThe Best Intentions explores problematic definitions\u2014\"unintended\" versus \"unwanted\" versus \"mistimed\"\u2014and presents data on pregnancy rates and trends. The book also summarizes the health and social consequences of unintended pregnancies, for both men and women, and for the children they bear.\nWhy does unintended pregnancy occur? In discussions of \"reasons behind the rates,\" the book examines Americans' ambivalence about sexuality and the many other social, cultural, religious, and economic factors that affect our approach to contraception. The committee explores the complicated web of peer pressure, life aspirations, and notions of romance that shape an individual's decisions about sex, contraception, and pregnancy. And the book looks at such practical issues as the attitudes of doctors toward birth control and the place of contraception in both health insurance and \"managed care.\"\nThe Best Intentions offers frank discussion, synthesis of data, and policy recommendations on one of today's most sensitive social topics. This book will be important to policymakers, health and social service personnel, foundation executives, opinion leaders, researchers, and concerned individuals.", url = "https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/4903/the-best-intentions-unintended-pregnancy-and-the-well-being-of", year = 1995, publisher = "The National Academies Press", address = "Washington, DC" }