Family planning

Combined oral contraceptives. Introduced in 1960, "the Pill" has played an instrumental role in family planning for decades.
A community health worker explains to a woman in Madagascar different methods for family planning.

Family planning is the consideration of the number of children a person wishes to have, including the choice to have no children, and the age at which they wish to have them. Things that may play a role on family planning decisions include marital situation, career or work considerations, financial situations. If sexually active, family planning may involve the use of contraception (birth control) and other techniques to control the timing of reproduction.

Other aspects of family planning aside from contraception include sex education,[1][2] prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections,[1] pre-conception counseling[1] and management, and infertility management.[3] Family planning, as defined by the United Nations and the World Health Organization, encompasses services leading up to conception. Abortion is not typically recommended as a primary method of family planning.[4]

Family planning is sometimes used as a synonym or euphemism for access to and the use of contraception. However, it often involves methods and practices in addition to contraception. Additionally, many might wish to use contraception but are not necessarily planning a family (e.g., unmarried adolescents, young married couples delaying childbearing while building a career). Family planning has become a catch-all phrase for much of the work undertaken in this realm. However, contemporary notions of family planning tend to place a woman and her childbearing decisions at the center of the discussion, as notions of women's empowerment and reproductive autonomy have gained traction in many parts of the world. It is usually applied to a female-male couple who wish to limit the number of children they have or control pregnancy timing (also known as spacing children).

Family planning has been shown to reduce teenage birth rates and birth rates for unmarried women.[5][6][7]

  1. ^ a b c "What services do family planning clinics provide?". NHS. Archived from the original on 11 November 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2008.
  2. ^ "National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System Glossary" (PDF). Administration for Children & Families. 2000. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2020. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  3. ^ World Health Organization. (n.d.). Sexual and Reproductive Health Archived 2016-03-18 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 30 October 2019.
  4. ^ United Nations Population Fund. "Family planning". Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  5. ^ Packham, Analisa (2017-09-01). "Family planning funding cuts and teen childbearing". Journal of Health Economics. 55: 168–185. doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2017.07.002. ISSN 0167-6296. PMID 28811119.
  6. ^ Kearney, M. S.; Levine, P. B. (2015). "Investigating recent trends in the U.S. teen birth rate". Journal of Health Economics. 41: 15–29. doi:10.1016/j.jhealeco.2015.01.003. PMID 25647142.
  7. ^ Lu, Yao; Slusky, David J. G. (2018-06-28). "The Impact of Women's Health Clinic Closures on Fertility" (PDF). American Journal of Health Economics. 5 (3): 334–359. doi:10.1162/ajhe_a_00123. ISSN 2332-3493. S2CID 51813993.