The intersection of<unk>  has a controversial history which began with<unk>  founder L. Ron Hubbard's discussion of<unk>  in his 1950 book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. Hubbard wrote in Dianetics that<unk>  and attempts at<unk>  could cause trauma to the fetus and to the mother in both spiritual and physical ways.<unk> sts came to believe that attempted<unk> s could cause traumatic experiences felt by the fetus, which would later be remembered as memories referred to in<unk>  as "engrams". In the<unk>  technique called Auditing,<unk> sts are frequently queried regarding their sexual feelings and behaviors. These questions about<unk> sts' sexual behavior are often posed to members during "security checks", a specific form of auditing sessions where individuals are required to document their divergence from the organization's ethics. One of the questions asked in these security checks is, "Have you ever been involved in an<unk> ?". A female former member of<unk> 's elite organization called the Sea Org discussed the views of<unk>  concerning<unk>  with sociologist Stephen A. Kent. She told Kent that while the Sea Org operated at sea during the mid-1970s, women understood that they were not to have children. She stated to Kent that women on the ships were pressured into having<unk> s. In 1994, former<unk> st and Sea Org member Mary Tabayoyon filed a legal declaration in which she said that while at<unk> 's base in Hemet, California, members of the Sea Org were instructed not to have children, and were coerced to have<unk> s. In 1999, former<unk> st Jesse Prince told The Press-Enterprise that after his wife Monika became pregnant while both were working at the<unk>  complex Golden Era Productions in Gilman Hot Springs, California, she was ordered to have an<unk>  in order for the couple to remain in the Sea Org.<unk>  representatives at the time asserted that Prince's wife chose of her own volition to have an<unk> , and was not forced to do so. In 2001, former<unk> st Astra Woodcraft told the San Francisco Chronicle that if a woman gets pregnant while in the Sea Org, she will either be sent to a lower-level organization of<unk> , or be pressured to have an<unk> . In April 2008, Woodcraft appeared along with<unk>  leader David Miscavige's niece Jenna Miscavige Hill on the ABC News program Nightline, and both asserted that Sea Org members who become pregnant are told to either leave or get an<unk> . Claire Headley was an employee at<unk> 's facility Golden Era Productions from 1991 to 2005 and a<unk> st and Sea Org member. In 2009, she filed a lawsuit against Golden Era Productions in which she asserted she was forced to undergo two<unk> s in order to keep her position with her employer.<unk>  representative Tommy Davis described her lawsuit as "utterly meritless", and said that<unk> sts who sign up for the Sea Org know that they are "becoming a part of a highly dedicated, highly disciplined, very regulated lifestyle as part of a religious order". Laura Ann DeCrescenzo filed a lawsuit in 2009 against<unk> , in which she asserted that she was forced to have an<unk>  at age 17. In commentary on<unk>  and practices in the Sea Org, new religious movements scholar J. Gordon Melton told the San Francisco Chronicle that members of the Sea Org are discouraged from having children. Melton wrote in a contribution in the book New Religious Movements and Religious Liberty in America that he had yet to see documents confirming whether<unk>  had a policy demanding that pregnant members of the Sea Org get an<unk> . In an article for the Marburg Journal of Religion, Stephen A. Kent wrote that "researchers should not be surprised to learn of pressures that Sea Org women felt to either abort pregnancies or give-up children for adoption". Kent commented, "Sea Org obligations override many personal and family obligations and responsibilities, and devotion to the<unk>  cause often appears to take priority over the needs of children."
Scientology and abortion
Abortion and mental health
Outline of obstetrics
Definitions of abortion
Post-abortion care
Reproductive endocrinology and infertility
Obstetrics
Teratology