Planejamento familiar: A autonomia das mulheres sob questão

Abstract

Objectives: to investigate women's access to contraceptive methods. Methods: inquiry through a self-applied survey of a random sample (divided into geographic regions and population size). The study comprised all 5507 Brazilian municipalities. Results: an outstanding number of municipalities place a high priority on family planning in relation to geographic region and size. As for contraception availability, 79.5% of 5358 municipalities do not provide diaphragms, and only 6.6% meet over 75% of the demand. In contrast, more than 75% of the demand for injectable contraceptives is met in 13.4% of 5314 municipalities. Seventy two and nine percent (72.9%) of all Brazilian municipalities does not offer fertility treatment, and only 5.9% of the municipalities provide contraceptives to over 75% of the women seeking this service. Conclusions: findings indicate inconsistency between education and routines of family planning, quantitative and qualitative access restrictions to contraceptive methods and insufficient care for infertility. This scenario limits women freedom of choice.