A woman would prefer to prevent an unwanted pregnancy rather than having an abortion or carrying the pregnancy to term. No amount of legal or religious restrictions, social stigma or lack of access to professional care can stop her if she decides to seek termination of an unplanned pregnancy.

The paper uses the National Family Health Survey (NFHS, 1992-93) data to examine the extent to which sex preferences have constrained the success of the family planning programme and inhibited the acceptance of contraception in the different states of the country.

In 1978, the Bangladesh family planning program launched a national program of outreach services that continues to the present. Young married women were hired and trained to visit women in their homes, offer contraceptive services, provide information, and support sustained use over time.

With the introduction of female condoms that can be used exclusively by women at the time of intercourse, the conventional latex condom, which is worn over the penis, can now be termed as the male condom.

The Copper-IUD -- Cu-T 200 -- is a reliable, safer simple and cost effective method of contraception.

Inter-spouse communication, though not a new dimension of fertility and family planning research, has remained much less explored in the Indian context than any other correlate of contraceptive use and current fertility.

The preference of couples worldwide for a male or female child is an age-old phenomenon. In many developing countries, including India, the preference for sons is strong and has influenced fertility to a large extent.

Stree Shakti Sanghatana (Hyderabad) Saheli (Delhi), Chingari (Ahmedabad) and several women, were co-petitioners in a case in the Supreme Court in 1986 which demanded a court ruling on introduction of contraceptive NET-EN.

Oral contraceptive pill registered 72 - 75% of the overall contraceptive usage ever since it was introduced in Malaysia. Most of the oral contraceptive pills available contain 30 mcg of Ethinyl Oestradiol and a standard progestogen, which ranges from Levanogestrel, Desogestrel and Gestoden.