A traditional ceremony used by the Yaka in Africa to treat sterility in women is described. Sterility is considered by Africans to be serious, since bearing children is seen as the only way that deceased ancestors can rejoin the living. Rites of purification are performed to reunite the sterile woman with the community. The first stage is a public confession, where the details of the couple's sexual life are told publicly. After this, a purification ritual takes place in the river to please the water spirits, after which the couple must change their names. After this, the clitoris of the woman is wounded by traditional midwives; this is called "cutting off the serpent's head". This is followed by other rituals, among them the throwing of a fish onto the fire by the sterile woman, symbolizing the unification of fire and water. This entire process is seen as a rite of passage which includes a sort of death and rebirth of the individual.
This short paper attempts an evaluation, 4 years after the promulgation of the law, of legally induced abortion as practiced in the several Centers of Social Gynecology, in Marseille, France. The four basic principles of the law have been respected and realized: 1) availability of personnel, of hospital beds, and of clinics; 2) promotion of contraception and of health education; 3) organization of structures by which a woman can be advised and counseled while keeping total freedom of choice; and 4) unconditional respect of the clause of conscientious objection required by law. Problems still to be solved regard: 1) foreigners, especially from North Africa, who come to France to obtain an abortion; 2) minors without parents' consent; and 3) reimbursement of expenses by the Social Security.
General anesthesia during induced abortion has the great advantage of eliminating any physical pain; it does not do anything, however, for anxiety, guilt feeling, emotional upheaval, and postoperative depression. This study investigate sophrology, a form of anesthesia without medication, which diminishes psychic tension through comforting and sympathetic words, and corporal tension through relaxation. At the beginning of the study, which observed 7547 patients, general anesthesia was routinely used for all induced abortion patients; after 4 years of observation, general anesthesia was used on about 1.9% of patients. Judging from a questionnaire given to patients after intervention 75% of patients were completely satisfied from an emotional point of view; the same percentage judged the procedure a bit painful, but bearable; only 3.5% of patients regretted not to have opted for general anesthesia.
In this very short but fiery and violent paper against abortion the author states that most women seeking abortion are actually lying to themselves, pretending they want something which, in reality, they do not want, i.e. an abortion. The laws regulating abortion in most countries are such that a woman is practically forbidden to make an independent decision, despite, or because of the number of counseling sessions and of meetings with doctors that she must go through. Radio, television, newspapers and magazines, friends and relatives, all contribute to make of abortion a run-of-the-mill operation, while it should be seen as scandal, and as the total negation of any maternal instinct.
When a woman applies to undergo abortion at the Hospital de la Timone, the Social Gynecology Center invites her to take part in a group discussion between the operating team and other patients. The patients have the opportunity to ask and discuss questions about abortion and contraception. Often the group of abortion seekers is characterized by a feeling of anguish or fantasy about death. It is also good for the operating team to have this interaction with patients, to become aware of their anxieties and needs.
