Population policy forum. Beginning with individual women

When IPPF was formed in 1952, its driving force was concern for women, for women's health and women's reproductive rights. 40 years on, those same issues are still at the heart of IPPF's policies and programs. Marge Berer has made a plea for a feminist approach within international family planning, and IPPF is in complete agreement that women's needs and choices should be paramount. All individuals and couples must have the basic human right to decide freely and responsible the number and spacing of their children. Women must also have the right to receive full information and counselling to choose their contraceptive method. Our secretary general, Dr. Halfdan Mahler, stresses that if family planning is to be effective, it must always begin with the individual, taking the whole issue of reproductive health into consideration. Men must share the responsibility for sexual behavior and family planning, and real equality will only be attained when women are empowered to regulate their own fertility. As nongovernmental health care organizations, IPPF's member associations offering services in 133 countries are able to work towards the principles of informed choice and voluntary family planning--even where governments may not be giving women the choices they deserve.