Published on April 12, 2012 at 1:47 AM
"Providing for the unmet need for family planning requires not only tearing down the barriers that women and adolescents face in their homes and communities, but also expanding the availability of quality information, supplies and services," Osotimehin writes. "The need for modern contraceptives is expected to grow by up to 30 percent over the next 15 years, and the needed investments to cover the demand are large," he notes. But "universal access to family planning is a critical component for development and the expected returns and other benefits are much larger," he continues, adding, "[U]ltimately and, most importantly, access to family planning is a human right." Osotimehin concludes, "Denying women the power and means to control the number and spacing of their children would deny them of their human rights to health, life and equal opportunity" (4/9).
 This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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