Irvin M. Cushner, MD, MPH It is both remarkable and, at the same time, a sign of this era of rapid change that one can refer back to the "infancy" of a field which has existed for barely more than a decade. Yet, one now reads of the "maturing" of the family planning and abortion fields, both of which were incorporated into our society and integrated into our health care system within the past ten years. Indeed, in the very year that this book is being prepared, we note the tenth anniversaries of several significant events of 1970: 1) the enactment of Title X of the Public Health Service Act,...

It is clear today that several prostaglandins play an important role in the regulation of many of the physiological events of the reproductive organs in the human. Both naturally occurring prostaglandins and their analogues are used routinely in many countries to ripen the cervix and induce labour at term as well as to dilate the cervix and to terminate pregnancy. Prostaglandin biosynthesis inhibitors are widely used in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhoea. The editors have aimed at an accurate, thorough, yet easily under- standable review of the status in 1986 of medical knowledge...

My dear children, you have been gone now for many years. How can one say goodbye to people without whom one does not know how to live. For all these years the only way to keep in touch with you was by letter but always without any answer or response. You are now 18 years old, adults and responsible for yourself. These letters may remind you of your father who loves you.