Linking Science and Social Issues
How Pregnancy Outcomes in American Women Links Biology and Statistics to Social Issues
Our course examines pregnancy outcomes in women. One measure of a nation's health is the outcomes of the pregnancies of its mothers. In infant
mortality, for example, the rank of the United States in the world fell from 11th in 1960 to 28th in 2002.
[Go to gapminder.org and open Gapminder World. Plot infant mortality as a function of income per person. Run the plot from, say, 1940 to the present and see that, although infant mortality in the United States declined during the last half of the twentieth century, that in other developed countries declined more quickly.]
We examine pregnancy outcomes from as many perspectives as we can think of:biological, sociological, economic, policy, personal. The table below and the sentences below it show some of the ways we try to link science and issues in science with social and policy issues that can be addressed, in part, from the perspective of science.
| Science | Social/Policy Issue |
| Biology of Pregnancy | Miscarriage Spontaneous Abortion Embryonic Development/Pharmaceuticals |
| Pregnancy Outcomes | Infant Mortality Social Factors Influencing Fetal Origins of Adult Disease Issues Surrounding Pregnancy and its Outcomes: Culture, Race, Class, Environmental Concerns, Nutrition |
| Health Related Surveys | How to Interpret Survey Responses |
| Pregnancy Outcomes in American Minorities | Racism The Weathering Hypothesis Personal vs. Public Responsibility |
| Alcohol and Tobacco Use | Turning Scientific Evidence into Public Policy Personal vs. Public Responsibility |
| Amish Pregnancy Outcomes | Model and Iconic Ethnic Groups Genetic Testing Genetic Disorders in Amish Communities |
| Genetic Testing | Uses of Genetic Testing |
| Air and Water Pollution | How to Protect Women from Pollution |
| Teratogens | How to Collect Information on the Safety of Drugs for Use by Pregnant Women |
| Birth Defects | Children with Birth Defects |
| Vulnerable Periods in Embryonic Development | Use of Pharmaceuticals During Pregnancy |
| Midwifery | Women's choices for birth place Control of birth |
| Pregnancy Outcomes in Hispanic Women | The Hispanic Paradox |
| Medical Care Delivery to Poor Women | How Should Medical Care be Delivered (and Paid For?) |
| Abortion | Abortion A Woman's Right and Power to Control Her Body |
Some of the many scientific or medical questions that are directly linked to social, economic, or cultural conditions include:
- Does access to prenatal care improve pregnancy outcomes? What constitutes good prenatal care?
- Are women of color "bad mothers," or are they unfairly cast as such in American media and do they suffer from heightened state intervention (such as arrest and incarceration) for misbehavior like drug use while pregnant because of racism?
- What are the policy implications of alcohol, abortion, and teratogens: balancing a pregnant woman's body autonomy/personal freedom with the life of the fetus.
- When does the fetus become a person with rights equal to the mothers?
In the future we may change the issue addressed in the course title. Other important civic questions under consideration that illuminate the connection between science and public policy are urban education, water, or crime.
