Where are all the families in family planning? Time to refresh the brand.
By Christopher Purdy, DKT International
November 17, 2025
As I strolled amongst the booths at the recent International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) in Bogota, a creeping question started to gnaw at me. I attended numerous presentations and the question grew. And I’ve since browsed the websites of some of the most prominent organizations working in this space (including my own) and I think my concern is justified. The family planning ‘brand’ is missing families.
The reproductive health community has worked hard and justifiably to ensure that women have the right to choose when, if, and how many children they wish to have. We’ve advocated for policies and services that put women first, supported their right to safe abortion, improved the quality and access to contraception, and celebrated sexual autonomy and pleasure. These are important and hard-won advances – and we should not give ground on any of this.
At the same time, why do we no longer have photographs, images, and stories about parents and their children? My unscientific review of the 100+ booths at the ICFP revealed exactly one photograph of a couple with two children and only a handful of images of a mother (or father) with one child. There were no photographs of any couple or mother with three or more children. Most of the images were of single women, groups of women, or happy couples. That is obviously not representative of all the women and men the family planning community endeavors to serve.
Visit the DKT website and you will be hard pressed to find an image of a family of four (including those with same-sex parents). The same is true for many websites of major non-profits, donors, and think tanks that work in the family planning space. Why? I recognize that families come in all shapes and sizes and that not everyone can or wishes to have children. I further appreciate that many groups have shifted to the nomenclature of ‘reproductive justice’ to encompass the right to have or not have children. However, shouldn’t our organization’s definitions of and storytelling around ‘families’ be inclusive of families with children as well? Presently, it does not look that way. Instead, our messaging inadvertently conveys an ideal or a value of one – or none – as the preferred or normative number of children. That is not the real world.
I posit that the family planning and reproductive health community should expand, refresh, and reclaim our brand to ensure that we both celebrate individual freedoms and sexual health as well as families that include children. In doing so, we can and will more authentically communicate our mission to a more diverse and expanded group of people – and ensure that the anti-choice, anti-rights movement does not take the opportunity to control this narrative. The family planning movement can and should be both rights based and pro-family (for those that wish to have them). That needs to be reflected in our language and imagery.
Personally, being a father of two boys has been one of the greatest joys of my life. I adore being a husband, and my family is hugely important in my life. I’m living proof that you can love having a family and still work assiduously to ensure everyone has a choice in how they plan theirs.
Where are all the families in family planning? Time to refresh the brand
Where are all the families in family planning? Time to refresh the brand.
By Christopher Purdy, DKT International
November 17, 2025
As I strolled amongst the booths at the recent International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) in Bogota, a creeping question started to gnaw at me. I attended numerous presentations and the question grew. And I’ve since browsed the websites of some of the most prominent organizations working in this space (including my own) and I think my concern is justified. The family planning ‘brand’ is missing families.
The reproductive health community has worked hard and justifiably to ensure that women have the right to choose when, if, and how many children they wish to have. We’ve advocated for policies and services that put women first, supported their right to safe abortion, improved the quality and access to contraception, and celebrated sexual autonomy and pleasure. These are important and hard-won advances – and we should not give ground on any of this.
At the same time, why do we no longer have photographs, images, and stories about parents and their children? My unscientific review of the 100+ booths at the ICFP revealed exactly one photograph of a couple with two children and only a handful of images of a mother (or father) with one child. There were no photographs of any couple or mother with three or more children. Most of the images were of single women, groups of women, or happy couples. That is obviously not representative of all the women and men the family planning community endeavors to serve.
Visit the DKT website and you will be hard pressed to find an image of a family of four (including those with same-sex parents). The same is true for many websites of major non-profits, donors, and think tanks that work in the family planning space. Why? I recognize that families come in all shapes and sizes and that not everyone can or wishes to have children. I further appreciate that many groups have shifted to the nomenclature of ‘reproductive justice’ to encompass the right to have or not have children. However, shouldn’t our organization’s definitions of and storytelling around ‘families’ be inclusive of families with children as well? Presently, it does not look that way. Instead, our messaging inadvertently conveys an ideal or a value of one – or none – as the preferred or normative number of children. That is not the real world.
I posit that the family planning and reproductive health community should expand, refresh, and reclaim our brand to ensure that we both celebrate individual freedoms and sexual health as well as families that include children. In doing so, we can and will more authentically communicate our mission to a more diverse and expanded group of people – and ensure that the anti-choice, anti-rights movement does not take the opportunity to control this narrative. The family planning movement can and should be both rights based and pro-family (for those that wish to have them). That needs to be reflected in our language and imagery.
Personally, being a father of two boys has been one of the greatest joys of my life. I adore being a husband, and my family is hugely important in my life. I’m living proof that you can love having a family and still work assiduously to ensure everyone has a choice in how they plan theirs.
November 2025 Newsletter
Where are all the families in family planning? Time to refresh the brand
DKT Mozambique is an Action for Women’s Health Awardee
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