Women "healthcare" and obstetrics - "thoughts of farewell"

Medicine, and so within also gynecology and obstetrics is shaped in the process of the last decade by changes of interaction between female-patient and physician in "Arbeitszeitgesetz" (law upon daily working time), the introduction of payment-system an case by case based lump-sums and intrusion (interference) of the political administration into autonomy of medical faculties. The contribution concerns with these prevailing economical required changes, interacting and beyond inter-disciplinarity. The progress in medicine by research is causing potential capacity and secondary costs explosion. Including financing of health service and decisive determinants: the demographic development of society, the change in working sphere and particularly law-dominated prenatal-medicine. This, future of medicine determining political, ethical and legal challenge must be accepted by medical professions. Solutions are pointed out.     

"Designer baby" changed to French for "double hope baby"

Scientific advances during the last decades regarding potential intervention on embryos arouse many questions in society to prepare the ground concerning the limits that should be set for these practices. For the first time in 1994, a parliamentary proceeding allowed the definition of a French model of bioethics through laws of the same name. These laws, among others, authorized in a well and strictly defined setting the practice of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). Because of technical progress concerning PGD, new questions arose, especially concerning the accomplishment of designer babies. The French Chamber of Representatives came in with a new law that banishes the concept of designer babies and replaces it with another concept: double hope babies, in French "bébé du double espoir". A first hope of a pregnancy giving birth to a healthy child and the second being that this child conceived with the aid of PGD could help treat an elder brother. Because of the issuing of two specific laws in a ten years interval, France occupies a privileged place in a Europe where bioethical issues continue to be debated, particularly PGD.     

"Planned" and "unplanned" pregnancy: deconstructing experiences of conception

This paper seeks to explore women's experiences of conception, and to deconstruct the dichotomy between the terms "planned" and "unplanned" pregnancy. It draws on interviews with 19 primagravidae conducted as part of a wider qualitative study of women's experiences of pregnancy and childbirth. Although the concept of pregnancy intention is widely regarded as ambiguous, and by some immeasurable, this paper draws on interview data to develop four categories of pregnancy intention. The first category (the planned pregnancy) is unambiguous and reflects the type of planned approach currently advocated by health professionals. The second category (the laissez-faire pregnancy) reflects the experiences of women who stop using contraception but adopt a more relaxed approach to pregnancy planning. The third category (the recalcitrant pregnancy) is far more ambiguous and describes the experiences of those who want to be pregnant but for whom it would not be socially acceptable to plan a pregnancy. The final category (the accidental pregnancy) is unambiguous and deals with pregnancies that could be described as unexpected, and arising due to genuine contraceptive failure. This paper concludes by highlighting the significance of pregnancy intention for health policy, health research, and for the health care providers. The importance of adopting a subjective approach to improve our understanding of women's experiences of conception is also highlighted.