For more than half the world's couples the fundamental decision whether or when to have a child is seldom a real decision at all. Despite the progress of the last decade, few of these 600 million men and women have adequate information about the health implications of ill-timed childbearing; few receive feedback on the impact of their fertility decisions on their community; and few have access to modern family planning methods. To narrow these family planning gaps, many governments have begun to expand family planning programs, extending services at the community level and using peer pressure to promote the acceptance of contraception and of small families. It is true that more couples are effectively planning their family size than ever before. In the first half of this decade, the use of oral contraceptives, intrauterine devices (IUDs), and both male and female sterilization-the three most effective means of preventing unwanted pregnancies rose markedly in both rich and poor countries. Yet, despite dramatic progress, a majority of couples still do not use these methods. Primitive contraceptive practices and old prejudices against contraception remain, Archaic laws make contraceptives and safe abortion difficult to obtain. Family planning's disenfranchised minorities-the poor, the young, and the rural-still cannot time their childbearing effectively.