The Netherlands recently ended its policy of providing free contraception to all women over the age of 21.
The free contraception policy, in combination with aggressive sexual education programs, was widely credited with the Netherlands having the lowest teenage pregnancy and abortion rates in Europe.
Teen pregnancy and abortion in the Netherlands has grown in recent years, but that increase is largely due to immigration — 60 percent of abortions in the Netherlands are obtained by members of ethnic minorities.
The government cited the high cost of maintaining the birth control subsidy as the reason for eliminating it.
Source:
Dutch abandon free contraception for all. Angus Roxburgh, BBC News, January 15, 2004.