Population

Read the following text. In groups, discuss the main idea and the supporting points in the story.

DO FAMILY PLANNING PROGRAMS REALLY WORK?

Family planning programs work � or do they? Studies have shown how effective contraceptive methods are, but what about the programs in which these methods are provided?

Effective family planning programs are those that help women to reach their goals of planning their families. Women are having more children than they want in the developing world for many reasons. One important reason is poor access to contraceptive information and services.

A project in Ecuador helped Ecuadorian teenagers to avoid a total of 2,656 births between
November 1, 1993, and October 31, 1997. Most of the teens in the project came to one of the clinics for contraceptive services after they had their first child. This is not unusual. Family planning clinics work better for teenagers after their first pregnancy. Most teens come to "adult" family planning clinics after it is too late. The data from the study of the project showed that teens would delay their first pregnancies if they have access to a community-based youth-only clinic.

^{Adapted with permission from DO FAMILY PLANNING PROGRAMS
REALLY WORK? By Chris Price and Dan Weintraub, Planned Parenthood�
Federation of America, Inc. �
1999 PPFA. All Rights reserved.

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/articles/Int_fp.html}