Benefits from family planning services.

Abstract

In the western world in general and Europe in particular, family planning services have not contributed to a decrease in fertility rates to a sustainable level, because these levels were already low before such services were introduced. Therefore, the question 'What benefits can be derived from family planning services?', should be rephrased as 'What has changed in the lives of women?' and a distinction needs to be made between industrialized and developing countries. Benefits of family planning in the lives of women can be divided into four categories: (1) The acquired freedom to choose easily the number of children they wish to have; (2) Improvements in their health thanks to the availability of modern contraceptives; (3) The impact of contraception on the struggle to promote the condition of women; (4) More globally, the differences between the north and the south of the world in the impact of family planning on women's development.