This article reviews the current status of birth control methods, emphasizing the reversible fertility control agents that will be needed during the next decade or two, notably in developing countries. Special mention is made of chemical approaches to abortion, hormonal agents, the intrauterine device, sterilization techniques, and male contraceptives. The prospects for reaching the goals of better research and more effective implementation are fairly dim unless major changes in public and governmental attitudes toward contraceptive research are instituted. Attention is drawn particularly to some of the operational problems associated with the development of new fertility control approaches in the female and in the male.
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