Family Planning and Birth Control

What is family Planning?

Family planning means having only the number of children you want and only when you want to have them. Family planning can be done by following any of birth control methods. Using a birth control method avoids the risk of unwanted pregnancy and the following abortion. Abortions after three months are normally done by surgery so may risk the woman's life and may even impair her chances of a healthy pregnancy later.

Family Planning or birth control methods.

There are a lot of family planning or birth control methods as listed below on this page. Broadly speaking the various methods of birth control can be divided into 2 categories:-

Natural methods or Behavioural methods of birth control
- Safe period method
- Avoiding vaginal intercourse
- Total Abstinence
- Withdrawal method
Artificial methods of birth control:-
- Barrier Methods: work by stopping sperm from entering a woman's uterus and fertilising her egg
- Harmonal Methods: work by changing the levels of hormones in a woman's body, making conception very difficult
- Spermicides: works by killing sperms in vagina.
- Other methods

Which birth control method is best for me?

This decision should be taken together by both ther partners. The choice of birth control method depends on your age, health and need. Like some people only need to prevent pregnancy while others may also need protection from sexually transmitted diseases. Guru suggest to consider the following points while selecting a birth control method:-

Effectiveness or success/failure rate
Availablity
Safety - from sexually transmitted diseases
Convenience - ease of use
Disadvantages or side-effects (if any)