Recovering costs has almost never been an objective of publicly sponsored family-planning programs. Most family-planning programs in LDCs have aimed at low-income couples who could not afford or did not have access to private-sector options. Even contraceptive socialmarketing projects have avoided cost recovery, aiming instead at establishing prices that ensure sufficient incentives for distributors and are in line with similar purchases of low-income families. Deteriorating economic conditions combined with a growing demand for contraceptives are forcing governments to reconsider the nature and scope of their subsidized service-delivery programs. Government-sponsored family-planning programs are being required to make choices regarding whom they subsidize and by how much. Their choices are to accept the reduction in funding or seek alternative sources of revenues through donor support, borrowing at commercial rates, or seeking some level of cost recovery from users. This article is concerned with the cost-recovery option. Recovering some portion of program costs has decided benefits: government subsidies can be reduced, the number of contraceptive outlets can be increased, and the quality of services could well improve if worker salaries are tied to client expenditures and, therefore, their satisfaction. There are costs to cost recovery as well, notably, fee collection and handling costs, and possible negative effects on familyplanning use among those unable to afford even modest charges. These issues are discussed further below, and it is important to keep them in mind, since they impinge so directly on the cost effectiveness and therefore on the desirability of cost-recovery efforts. This article uses a simple demand-and-supply framework to address the major topic touched on above. The next section sets out the conceptual framework. Following this, the prices consumers face, the affordability of those prices for the average consumer, and consumer willingness to pay for family-planning services are discussed. Subse