Childbearing Choices

Index to articles on this topic in the March 1998 issue

Key: [1] p1 = article [1] on page 1 of the print issue. Click on this notation to access the corresponding web page.

Adoption, [1] p1, [3] p2, [7] p4

Amniocentesis, a prenatal testing method where fluid is drawn for analysis from the amniotic sac surrounding the fetus, usually at 16-18 weeks of gestation, [6] p3

Artificial insemination, medical insertion of sperm from a donor into the womb of the mother.[3]

p2 Birth control, see Waiting

Chorionic villus sampling (CVS), a prenatal testing method involving taking a sample of cells for analysis from the finger-like edges of the fetal part of the placenta, usually at 9-11 weeks of gestation. [2]

p2 Guilt, [9] p6 Information, not advice, [10]

p7 Infertility, [3] p2, [4] p2

Linkage analysis, a method of DNA testing used when a direct test is not available. This was the only testing available for VHL before the gene was found in 1993. A study is made of the inheritance pattern of the set of genes on chromosome 3 that are usually inherited as a group. Based on analysis of these groupings, a prediction can be made whether this person is likely to have inherited the group with the altered VHL gene in it.

See [2] p2, [8] p5 Not to have a child, [4] p2, [7]p4.

Birth control can be used for a provisional decision; tubal ligation or vasectomy can be used for permanent decisions.

Old-fashioned method, [1] p1, [3] p2, [5] p3

Parenting, [9] p6

Pattern of inheritance, [8] p5

Pre-implantation testing, [12] p8, [13] p10

Pre-natal testing, [1] p1; [2] p2; [3] p2, [6] p3.

See also Amniocentesis and CVS.

Privacy, [10] p7

Risks to the mother, [4] p2, [6] p3, [7] p4, [11] p7.

Termination, [1] p1; [2] p2, [6] p3, [7] p4, [13] p10

Waiting, birth control, [1] p1. For a good brief survey of birth control and childbearing assistance methods, see the internet web page designed by Dr. Robert A. Hatcher, MD, MPH, Emory Univ Sch Med, http://www.emory.edu/WHSC/MED/FAMPLAN/choices.html