Global Access to Contraception Essential for a Sustainable Civilization

By Brigid Fitzgerald Reading (Earth Policy Institute)

In 1994, the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, Egypt, recognized reproductive health and family planning as fundamental human rights. Delegates committed to making voluntary family planning services universally available by 2015.

Now, just three years from that deadline, at least 215 million women want to prevent or delay pregnancy but are not using effective contraception. This “unmet need” for family planning may be due to poor reproductive health information, social pressures or insufficient access to contraceptive options. In Africa, more than 1 in 4 women have unmet need—by far the highest rate of any region.

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