Family planning

Family planning is the planning of when to have children, and the use of birth control and other techniques to implement such plans. Other techniques commonly used include sexuality education, prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections,  pre-conception counseling and management, and infertility management.


Family planning is sometimes used in the wrong way also as a synonym for the use of birth control, though it often includes more. It is most usually applied to a female-male couple who wish to limit the number of children they have and/or to control the timing of pregnancy (also known asspacing children). Family planning may encompass sterilization, as well as pregnancy termination.


Family planning services are defined as "educational, comprehensive medical or social activities which enable individuals, including minors, to determine freely the number and spacing of their children and to select the means by which this may be achieved."




Purposes


Raising a child requires significant amounts of resources: time,  social, financial, and environmental. Planning can help assure that resources are available.




Health
See also: Maternal health and teenage pregnancy
Waiting until the mother is at least 18 years old before trying to have children improves maternal and child health. Also, if additional children are desired after a child is born, it is healthier for the mother and the child to wait at least 2 years after the previous birth before attempting to conceive (but not more than 5 years). After a miscarriage or abortion, it is healthier to wait at least 6 months.




Birth control
Main article: Birth control
With recent assertions of overpopulation on Earth, there have been asertions that birth control is the answer. Birth control are techniques and methods use to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages.