Family planning efforts in Pakistan lag despite rising population, Washington Post reports

The Washington Post examines how "Pakistan's family planning efforts have lagged far behind those of other large Muslim-majority nations," despite rising population numbers. "In fits and starts, public and private agencies in Pakistan are advocating contraception to curb the country's surging population, prevent deaths during childbirth and help provide better lives for those who are born. But in this deeply conservative society, women themselves are often the least able to decide, and the people who can -- husbands, mullahs, mothers-in-law -- still prize many children, particularly boys," the newspaper writes. "The sixth most populous country ..., Pakistan has South Asia's highest fertility rate, at about four children per woman," but "[t]oday, just one in five Pakistani women ages 15 to 49 uses modern birth control," the newspaper notes (Brulliard, 12/14).