Sir.—There is abundant documentation of the problems of indigent children; many are from one-parent families, many are homeless, and a large proportion are from unplanned and often complicated pregnancies. In addition, there are many thousands of pregnancies aborted annually. All agree that women should be able to decide when they wish to become pregnant. If this were the case, many fewer pregnancies would occur, particularly among indigent young women and adolescent girls. Current methods of contraception are not providing the answer to the problem due to a variety of reasons relating to cost, effectiveness, and accessibility in the indigent population.
One method that is not widely practiced is available, effective, and, once initiated, requires no further effort on the part of the individual. This method is the implantation of a progesterone derivative (Norplant, Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, Philadelphia, Pa) subcutaneously in a depot form. The agent has been widely used in