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Family Planning

Ask the Experts

Gynaecologist in Baner

Family planning services are defined as “educational, comprehensive medical or social activities which enable individuals, including minors, to determine freely the number and spacing of their children and to select the means by which this may be achieved”. Family planning may involve consideration of the number of children a woman wishes to have, including the choice to have no children, as well as the age at which she wishes to have them. These matters are influenced by external factors such as marital situation, career considerations, financial position, and any disabilities that may affect their ability to have children and raise them. If sexually active, family planning may involve the use of contraception and other techniques to control the timing of reproduction.

Other aspects of family planning include sex education, prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections, pre-conception counseling and management, and infertility management.

Family planning allows people to attain their desired number of children and determine the spacing of pregnancies. It is achieved through use of contraceptive methods and the treatment of infertility (this fact sheet focuses on contraception).

Benefits of family planning

  • Preventing pregnancy-related health risks in women: A woman’s ability to choose if and when to become pregnant has a direct impact on her health and well-being. Family planning allows spacing of pregnancies and can delay pregnancies in young women at increased risk of health problems and death from early childbearing. It prevents unintended pregnancies, including those of older women who face increased risks related to pregnancy. Family planning enables women who wish to limit the size of their families to do so. Evidence suggests that women who have more than 4 children are at increased risk of maternal mortality.By reducing rates of unintended pregnancies, family planning also reduces the need for unsafe abortion.
  • Reducing infant mortality: Family planning can prevent closely spaced and ill-timed pregnancies and births, which contribute to some of the world’s highest infant mortality rates. Infants of mothers who die as a result of giving birth also have a greater risk of death and poor health.
  • Helping to prevent HIV/AIDS: Family planning reduces the risk of unintended pregnancies among women living with HIV, resulting in fewer infected babies and orphans. In addition, male and female condoms provide dual protection against unintended pregnancies and against STIs including HIV.
  • Empowering people and enhancing education: Family planning enables people to make informed choices about their sexual and reproductive health. Family planning represents an opportunity for women to pursue additional education and participate in public life, including paid employment in non-family organizations. Additionally, having smaller families allows parents to invest more in each child. Children with fewer siblings tend to stay in school longer than those with many siblings.
  • Reducing adolescent pregnancies: Pregnant adolescents are more likely to have preterm or low birth-weight babies. Babies born to adolescents have higher rates of neonatal mortality. Many adolescent girls who become pregnant have to leave school. This has long-term implications for them as individuals, their families and communities.
  • Slowing population growth: Family planning is key to slowing unsustainable population growth and the resulting negative impacts on the economy, environment, and national and regional development efforts.

Counselling a woman on family planning after an abortion

When advising a woman how to care for herself after an abortion, remember that it is important to discuss the use of a family planning method to prevent another unwanted pregnancy. Explain that she can become pregnant as soon as two weeks after an abortion if she begins to have sexual relations. A woman who has recently experienced an induced or spontaneous abortion should wait at least six months before another pregnancy to reduce risks to her health and to her future baby.

You can support her and her partner in choosing a method that meets their needs:

  • If she has no post-abortion complications or infection, she can safely use any family planning method, and can start all methods immediately post-abortion (except for the natural calendar method, when she should wait for 3 months).
  • If an infection is present or suspected, advise her to avoid intercourse until the infection is ruled out or fully treated. Delay female sterilization and IUD insertion until an infection is fully treated, but offer other methods to use in the meantime.
  • For IUD insertion or female sterilization after a second trimester abortion, the provider may need special training because of the changed uterine size and the position of the fallopian tubes.
  • If she thinks she could be at risk of getting STI/HIV, she should use a condom in all sexual relations.
  • It may also be helpful to explain emergency contraception, and offer her emergency contraceptive pills to take home in case she needs them.