Education for contraceptive use by women after childbirth.

Providing contraceptive education is now considered a standard component of postpartum care. The effectiveness is seldom examined. Questions have been raised about the assumptions on which such programs are based, e.g., that postpartum women are motivated to use contraception and that they will not return to a health center for family planning advice. Surveys indicate that women may wish to discuss contraception prenatally and after hospital discharge. Nonetheless, two-thirds of postpartum women may have unmet needs for contraception. In particular, many adolescents become pregnant again within a year a giving birth.