Question: After marriage, for what duration should conception be postponed?

Old timers favored immediate conception and childbirth. The absence of any signs of pregnancy after a year or one and a half years of marriage caused anxiety. The superstitious turned to prayer, ritual and all kinds of remedies, some necessary, others not so. The idea of contraception to voluntarily postpone conception did not perhaps exist.
It is not so now. Times have changed. Today, newly married couples are faced with many questions. “How many children should we have?” “When is it right to have our first child?” If they wish for more than one child, “What should the age-difference between the two children be?” These are matters demanding careful thought and planning. Modern couples are in a position to take decisions according to their circumstances. If the husband and wife are young (under 25 years) or if there is any crisis — financial, social, physical or mental — it might be better to let 2 or 3 years pass before they have a child. The interim may be profitably spent in getting to know each other better, enjoying freedom in marital bliss or strengthening the monetary fibre.

If the couple is fairly advanced in age at the time of marriage, say if the husband is 30 or 30 plus and the wife between 27-28 years, pregnancy should not be postponed.

When the woman is mentally prepared, pregnancy is welcome and, for the most part, trouble free. But if an unsuspecting woman, burdened with financial or other practical difficulties finds herself saddled with an unwanted pregnancy, her own mental and physical well being is at stake and the foetus within her, equally affected. Under such circumstances support and encouragement are needed from family members, friends and relatives. Sometimes, however, these may be inadequate or not forthcoming and abortion may have to be considered as a last resort.