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The number of Northern Ireland women obtaining abortions in England has risen sharply from 36 for April–December 1968 to 775 in 1972. The figure for 1973 when it becomes available will probably be about 1000.The sample on which this paper is based consisted of 522 women who between January 1971 and August 1973 sought an abortion through the Ulster Pregnancy Advisory Association. The sample amounted to about one-quarter of all residents of Northern Ireland obtaining an abortion in England over the same period and was therefore not a random one. It was, however, fully representative for age and marital status and was thought to be generally reliable.The 522 women included 108 Roman Catholics, who were therefore under-represented in the sample compared with the general population at risk.The 108 Roman Catholics included 72.2% of single women, compared with 65.1% of single Protestants; they were also younger, 42.6% coming with the age group 20–24 years compared with 33.4% of the Protestants, and a higher proportion, 46.3% compared with 30.9%, had stayed at school to the age of 17 or 18 years. Only 15.7% of the Catholics had been told of the UPAA by their own doctors, compared with 45.7% of the Protestants. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper describes the first study of vasectomized men in Latin America; it is based on personal interviews with 172 men who had undergone the operation at least 3 months previously.The majority of the men chose to have the operation relatively late in life (38·9 years), after they had had a large number of children (5·9 living). Men from all education and occupation levels were represented in the sample; about 25% were practising Catholics. Many cited the effectiveness of vasectomy as a major factor in their decision. More than one-half reported at least one failure with other methods. Principal original sources of information about vasectomy for the majority were the mass media. Most reported that their sexual activity had remained unchanged or had improved since the operation and expressed satisfaction with the results of the operation.(Summary in Spanish, p. 505.) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The data in this paper are drawn from interviews with a probability sample of 2652 once-married women under the age of 60 currently living with their husbands in 1971 in metropolitan Melbourne. Although drawing from other material from the 2½ hr interviews the discussion concentrates upon the family size ideals of these wives. In addition to the customary measures of ideal family size, new measures of the upper and lower limits of acceptable family size are described, together with the reactions of the whole sample to a wide range of specified family sizes and the reasons for accepting or rejecting them. It is shown that the eventual achievement of zero population growth will almost certainly depend upon the two-child family becoming the norm for the great majority of couples, since childless or one-child marriages are desired by only 2% of couples. Currently, however, 20% of wives consider two-child families to be undesirably small. The marked religious, country of origin and educational differentials in acceptance of the two-child family are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]