A gravity of the situation with teenager girls pregnancy is confirmed
by the data cited in the State Report of the Ministry of Social Welfare
of Russia for 1994. According to these data there are 335 thousands abortions
for 30 thousands deliveries among under-age girls in Russia. V.I.Brutman
shows that those juvenile girls who have preserved their pregnancy, sometimes
foolishly, in many cases abandon their babies and join thus the army of
social orphans. The author of the previous article investigates in details
a psychological condition of a juvenile woman when she made a decision
to abandon her child. What to do: to keep pregnancy or to have abortion
performed? To take responsibility for a child or shift it off on to an
orphanage? That is the choice to be done by a girl who came to know she
is pregnant. And this choice is to be done by the most of them alone or
under pressure of public opinion and her own family being braught upon
immature person.
Existing services of social welfare, public health, education do not
give support to young pregnant girls of under-age mothers. A public philanthropic
organisation "Service of Assistnance for Under-age Women GOLUBA"
tries to solve this problem. For two years this organisation, including
a psychologist, a teacher, a doctor, a lawyer and a social worker, gives
consultations and advices to teenager girls assisting them to make a choice:
to be a mother or not to be. They consult their parents as well. In maternity
home under the isolation hospital number 6 the specialists of GOLUBA investigate
abnormal maternal behaviour, help to change to the better a psychological
condition of a juvenile woman and so make her take her own choice more
consciously.
Obviously a small charity organisation's activity can not cover all
the needies: a broad system of help is needed for this. The personnel of
the Service of Assistance for Under-age Women has developed a project of
a specialized reabilitation institution including a consulting center and
an asylum for juvenile pregnant women and mothers with children. According
to the project a consulting center should have a public consultation room,
a psychiatrist consulting room and a legal aid service. A school for juvenile
parents (as well as their parents) is also provided. Asylum should have
a training and productive unit where under-age mothers could gain mental
equilibrium, a feeling of their necessity to other people and first of
all to their own child, through the mediation of doing something beautiful,
aesthetically enjoyable. Courses of music-therapy are also provided for
clients of asylum where they would play music and sing in chorus. The authors
of the project suppose that music is not only a necessary part, but a pivot,
a bearing construction of the social reabilitation program.
If you want to support this project, to take consultations, to tell
your problems and ideas, you should get in touch with Marianna Vronskaya,
a chairperson of the board of administration of GOLUBA. Phones: 369-0346,
261-6250.
Since undesirable pregnancy might be a risk for a woman's health, her
right of safety means a right of effective contraception. Thera are so
many contraceptives in drug-stores today that it is difficult to understand
what is what and to make the right choice. Ideally you go through a complete
examination and after this a doctor would prescribe a drug most appropriate
for you. In reality examination is nothing more than a usual inspection
and after this a doctor prescribes for you a drug known to him, considering
that a level of his knowledge is not usually very high. That is why you
should know it yourself and beforehand about existing contraceptive methods,
their action, contraindications and side effects. Today we shall inform
you about a new high-efficient hormonal contraceptive of long-term action
called NORPLANT. The following information is given from the "Manual
for Providing Services in the Field of Family Planning" developed
by the International Federation of Family Planning. Translation into Russian
and publication of the Manual have been done by the Russian Association
"Family Planning".