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Family Planning: A Human Right
Nearly 350 million couples worldwide are still in need
of effective family planning methods so they can space their
children or
limit
the size of their families. This number is expected to grow by
40 per cent in the next 15 years.
At least 120 million women want to use family planning
methods, but lack access to information and services or the support
of their husbands and communities. And more
than 50 million of the 190 million women who become pregnant
each year have abortions. Many of these are clandestine and performed
under unsafe conditions.
The international
community has agreed that reproductive choice
is a basic human right. But without access to relevant information
and high-quality services, that right cannot be exercised.
According to the ICPD Programme of Action, the
aim of family planning programmes must be to enable couples and
individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing
of their children; to have the information and means to do so;
to ensure informed choices; and to make available a full range
of safe and effective methods.
The ICPD Progamme of Action states that "In no
case should abortion be promoted as a method of family planning." [para
8.25.] UNFPA does not provide any support for abortion or abortion-related
activities. UNFPA seeks to prevent abortion by increasing access
to family planning services, and to reduce maternal deaths through
better management of complications of unsafe abortions.
UNFPA works to make reproductive rights a reality
by supporting family planning services throughout the developing
world. These services, as well as the information needed to make
good choices, are usually provided as part of a constellation
of reproductive health services.
Most women today want two, three or four children
– fewer than in generations past. The use of modern contraceptive
methods, including voluntary sterilization, has increased rapidly
over the past 30 years, especially in countries with strong family
planning programmes. In less developed regions, contraceptive
use approaches 60 per cent of couples.
Most of this increase reflects greater contraceptive
use by women. But in many countries, poverty and profound inequalities
between men and women limit women’s ability to plan their pregnancies.
So does lack of access to effective contraceptive protection.
Differing patterns of contraceptive use may
not reflect women’s personal preferences as much as political
and economic decisions made by governments to emphasize certain
methods, the attitudes of medical professionals, cost, the limited
range of methods offered in some countries or an uneven availability
of contraceptive supplies.
Two new contraceptives for women: once-a-month
injectables and the female condom have become available since
1994. Fewer than 5 per cent of couples in the majority of developing
countries rely on modern male methods (the condom or vasectomy).
The level of unintended pregnancy is lowest
in countries with greatest access to effective methods of contraception
and where women play a major role in family decision-making. This
goal of universal access to services needed to allow couples to
exercise their full reproductive rights remains elusive: one evaluation
found that family planning services are routinely made available
to women at a reasonable cost in only 14 of 88 developing countries
studies.
UNFPA supports family planning services that:
- offer a wide selection of methods
- reflect high standards of medical practice
- are sensitive to cultural conditions
- provide sufficient information about proper use or possible
side effects
- address women’s other reproductive health needs
UNFPA is committed to closing the gap between
the number of individuals who use contraceptives and those who would
like to space or limit their families. The Fund rejects any form
of coercion with respect to family planning, including the use of
targets or quotas for the recruitment of clients.
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All countries should, over the next
several years, assess the extent of national unmet need
for good-quality family-planning services and its integration
in the reproductive health context, paying particular
attention to the most vulnerable and underserved groups
in the population. All countries should take steps to
meet the family-planning needs of their populations
as soon as possible and should, in all cases by the
year 2015, seek to provide universal access to a full
range of safe and reliable family-planning methods and
to related reproductive health services which are not
against the law. The aim should be to assist couples
and individuals to achieve their reproductive goals
and give them the full opportunity to exercise the right
to have children by choice. (Paragraph 7.16)
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For more technical information on family planning
methods and research, the following links may be useful. UNFPA
is not responsible for their content.
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