Social and political factors in fertility control

Abstract

It is too often overlooked that family planning means just what it says: ‘planning’, i.e. a conscious choice of goals for the future and of the best means of achieving them. Good planning for the family, or as some like to put it, ‘responsible parenthood’, must be based on both ‘macro’ and ‘micro’ considerations. ‘Macro’ ones involve the impact of decisions as to family size made by each family in a society on the achievement of the goals of that society. ‘Micro’ factors concern the impact of such family decisions on the goals of that family.