Postponing Childbirth

Paper Summary:

The writer maintains that in today's world, an increasing number of women, especially those in the United States and Europe, are opting to postpone having a child well into their thirties, forties and even past the age of fifty. The writer explains that medically speaking, many doctors and OB/GYN's consider thirty-five as being quite young and see nothing wrong with a woman having a child beyond the age of forty, as long as the mother-to-be is healthy and realizes that the chances of getting pregnant by her own egg supply is greatly diminished after the age of forty. However, there are numerous economic and psychological factors, such as the cost of fertility treatments and the inevitable "ticking" of the biological clock, that women in these age groups must face in order to decide whether or not to become pregnant after the age of thirty. This paper looks at the effects and risks of delaying childbirth.

From the Paper:

"The psychological ramifications of procrastination, i.e. waiting for a long period of time before deciding to have a child, can be quite devastating. For example, a woman may feel that she has waited too long which may cause her to feel extremely depressed. To make matters worse, A.D. Domar points out that there is "increasing evidence that depression may contribute to infertility. Women with a history of depression have twice the infertility rates of women without a history of depression" (2000, p. 808).
One additional psychological result of waiting too long has to do with a feeling of desperation which may induce a woman to seek out medical assistance from those with poor track records regarding fertility treatment. Thus, the longer a woman delays becoming pregnant, the more she is susceptible to suffering psychological ramifications."

More papers on Postponing Childbirth:

• Book Review # 67513 : "Betty Friedan's "Feminine Mystique"
• Cause and Effect Essay # 128214 : "Fertility in the 20th century"
• Book Review # 120862 : "Sex, Lies and Menopause"

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