Pro Familia, the German family planning association (FPA), aims to represent the consumer in matters of sexuality, family planning and reproductive and womens health rights.
We run 153 clinics and 8 centres providing integrated services, reaching 120,000 counselling clients, and 90,000 in our sex education work, targeting young people and immigrants.
The clinics and centres offer counselling in a range of fields including:
- fertility regulation
- interpersonal relationships
- sexuality and violence
- sexuality and disability
- womens health issues
Pro Familia in collaboration with the international solidarity network Women Living Under Muslim Laws organized a nation-wide signature activity for the rights of Afghan women.
The petition demanded the immediate end of gender apartheid in Afghanistan and urged national governments and the United Nations to take action.
The abortion issue continues to be a subject of controversy. Pro Familia had to counteract new attempts by politicians, the Catholic church and so called 'pro-lifers' to restrict the new abortion laws.
The intervention by the Pope to make the German Catholic church withdraw from government funded abortion counselling caused nationwide heated debate and demanded of Pro Familia numerous political and media initiatives.
A close and continued collaboration with Catholics for a free choice helped Pro Familia to profile and broaden our abortion rights policy.
Pro Familia co-operated with the private sector and public and private radio stations which enabled us to reach new target groups. Online and radio services which have been built up over the last three years have proved successful, especially with men and young people.
We will continue our work focusing on sexuality but intend to aim at highly specific groups:
- other cultures
- the ageing population
- people with disabilities
and also on clients rights. We intend to develop a charter on sexual and reproductive rights for young people.
Other activities include conducting a comparative study on a new cervical cap, and the development of a position paper on prenatal diagnosis.
We have trained a wide range of professionals working in the field of sexuality and reproductive health.
We are also involved in international co-operation, for example, a programme development workshop with the family planning associations of the Czech and Slovak Republics, and with other Eastern European FPAs on strategies for managing religious fundamentalist opposition.
Pro Familia has organised a nationwide solidarity campaign for the rights of Afghan women.