Unmet need of contraception: a critical juncture toward family planning goals

India is the first country in the world to implement a family planning program, and this program has succeeded in generating universal knowledge about family planning methods. In spite of this, there exists a wide gap between knowledge and acceptance of family planning methods reflecting an unmet need for contraception. Different communication channels used to disseminate knowledge like television, radio, and newspapers aim to change the family planning methods. Being a didactic method, these have the least potential to change the attitudes of the people. This article represents the tip of the iceberg of the fate arising out of incomplete information provided through mass media not supported by a formal family planning program. One primipara woman after getting pregnant took an emergency contraceptive pill and attended a clinic with vaginal bleeding, abdominal pain, and pallor. Ultimately she underwent suction evacuation and survived. This indicates that mass media should not be a substitute, but rather a supplement to the routine program of the health worker to promote contraception.