However, deeply held cultural and religious traditions are often more powerful than political pressures, and they continue to influence individuals in much of the developing world and in certain ethnic groups from Asia and Africa in Britain. For example, there is a West Indian belief that a woman has a certain number of children inside her which she has to have and that nature should not be interfered with. We seek our immortality through our descendants, our children and our grandchildren. To thwart the possibility of conception can produce, at a deep psychic level, guilt about being anti-life and opposed to God. The words ‘contraception’ and ‘birth control’ sound hard and alienating, going against nature. Family planning, though less applicable to young people seeking advice on preventing pregnancy, has a softer ring to it. Although nowadays most people, certainly in the western world, do not want many children, and the benefits of contraception are self-evident, nevertheless there is a hidden psychic cost that is often denied but that can surface from time to time.
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