Brasília, March 9, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The government will reinforce its family planning policies by making more contraceptives available to poor women. Within fifteen days at the most, the Ministry of Health should submit a proposal to expand the free distribution of condoms, birth control pills, IUD's, and morning-after pills, among other methods. The announcement was made by Minister Humberto Costa.

According to Costa, women from the lowest social levels of the population don't have the same opportunities as middle and upper class women to determine the number of children they desire, for lack of information, inferior levels of education, and lack of awareness of the social problems caused by poor families with numerous offspring. (DAS)