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Psychologically and intellectually, thepregnant adolescent is still developing,and it is thus agonizingly difficultfor her to meet both theemotional and physiological demandsof pregnancy. Indeed, the gravid adolescentfaces the challenging tasksof learning to relate to an unbornchild and becoming a parent. Thesechallenges are superimposed on theyoung girl's struggle to become herown person intellectually, socially,and emotionally.Moreover, the offspring ofteenage pregnancies are often handicappedby intellectual, educational,and social deficiencies. Economicdependency and child abuse plaguethis unfortunate group of youngsters.Additionally, teenagers havebeen shown to produce smallerbabies than more mature womenand to have babies with a higherincidence of congenital malformations,neurological deficits, andgreater perinatal mortality. Itappears that the most significantmedical risks are for those pregnantadolescents 16 years of age andunder. However, studies clearly indicatethat comprehensive prenatalcare improves these outcomes.Indeed, nutritional education andsupplemental foods, especially protein,are most advantageous in thisage group. And yet, pregnant teenagersmay not seek prenatal carebecause of insufficient intellectualand emotional development; itis as if they do not understandthat present action affects futureoutcome.The economic impact on societyis great. In 1976, more than 4.6 billionwas paid to households of teenagemothers; more than a third ofthese girls were not high schoolgraduates. Certainly, to functioneffectively economically as an adultin a computerized age demands awell-educated mind and, tragically,teenage mothers obtain less educationthan their contemporaries andtend to be restricted to low status,dead-end jobs. Hence, future economicadvances to pregnant teens aswell as to society in general are lost,perhaps irrevocably.Most would agree that preventionof adolescent pregnancy is adesirable public policy. Yet, in theUnited States the actual number ofpregnant teens is increasing. Andalthough the overall rate of teenagepregnancy is decreasing, in one verycontinued on pg. 15SEND USA LADY PHYSICIAN:Women Doctors in America,A student at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania comforted by her "best friend." Circa 1895-96(Archives & Special Collections, Women in Medicine, Medical College of PA)By Ruth J. AbramBy the end of the 19th century,over 7,000 American women werepracticing medicine, accounting foras much as 19 percent of all physiciansin states such as Boston andMichigan. Thriving in private practices,members—even officers—ofstate and local medical societies,teachers in medical and nursingschools, founders and directors ofhospitals, and active, respectedmembers of families and communities,these Victorian physiciansthought—with good reason—thatthe battle for women in the medicalprofession was won. But, by thetime Suffrage was effected, it waspainfully clear that the battle wouldhave to be waged again. The numberand percentage of women physiciansslipped into a decline which wouldnot be stemmed until the 1950s norreversed until the 1970s. In Bostonin 1974, women were eight percentof the physician population. In theUnited States today, women compriseapproximately 15 percent ofphysicians and projections are:approximately 25 percent by 1990.1985 marks the end of the U.N.declared Decade on Woman in whichevery nation was asked to examinethe barriers still remaining to women'sfull participation in every aspectof national life. Send Us A LadyPhysician is offered in response tothat mandate.Funded, in part, by a grantfrom the National Endowment forthe Humanities, the Exhibit is jointlysponsored by the American MedicalWomen's Association; The MedicalCollege of Pennsylvania (founded in1850, the first regular medical schoolfor women in the world); The NewYork Infirmary/Beekman DowntownHospital (established in 1853 by DoctorsElizabeth and Emily Blackwell,the first hospital in the world runentirely by women), and New YorkUniversity, Department of History.Send Us a Lady Physician:Women Doctors in America, 1835-1920 is a multimedia traveling showwhich explores and interprets thedramatic history of women's entryinto American medicine, their successin the late 19th century andtheir difficulty maintaining a footholdin the newly scientific professionof the 20th century. The exhibitexplores a critical question: Howdoes any group outsjde the dominantculture first achieve and thensustain hard won social, political andeconomic gains?After opening on September18, 1985 at the Historical Society ofPennsylvania, the exhibit begins athree-year national tour. Thousandswill be led to a serious examinationof the strategies 19th centurywomen employed to gain inroadsinto the male establishment. Chiefamong these strategies was the useof Victorian notion of "VirtuousWomanhood" which held thatwomen were morally superior beingswho, in the case of medicine, wouldoffer especially nurturant qualitiesand uplift the profession.Divided into three sections, theexhibit begins with a presentation ofstudent life at the Woman's MedicalCollege of Pennsylvania. We hear theinspiring words of a graduationcontinued on pg. 11