Chapter 12 To Parent or Not to Parent Key Terms
total fertility rate Number of births a typical woman will have over her lifetime. pronatalist bias View that having children is taken for granted, whereas not having children must be justified.
structural antinatalism Values, laws,employment policies and culture are inimical to children and disastrous for committed parents. paradoxical pregnancy The more guilty and disapproving the young women are about premarital sex, the less likely they are to use contraceptives regularly.
abortion The expulsion of the fetus or embryo from the uterus either naturally or medically. involuntary infertility The condition of wanting to conceive and bear a child but being physically unable to do so.
public adoptions Adoptions through licensed agencies that place children with adoptive families. private adoptions Arranged directly between adoptive parents and the biological or birth mother, usually through an attorney.
closed adoption The adoptive and biological families have no communication and do not know one another's identities. open adoption Involves some direct contact with the biological and adoptive parents.
semi-open adoption Biological and adoptive families exchange personal information but have no direct contact. disrupted adoptions Child is returned to the agency before the adoption is final.
dissolved adoptions Child is returned after the adoption is final.