The Government should provide free, long-term birth control to all women not just beneficiaries, Northland social service organisations say.
Family Planning and the Whangarei Child Poverty Action Group said cost could be a barrier to women accessing contraceptives.
Group spokeswoman Ngaire Rae said women needed to make choices about contraceptionwith advice from health professionals and not delivery through Work and Income.
Under the proposal, announced by Social Development Minister Paula Bennett on Tuesday, penalties would be levied on those who have more children while on a benefit.
From this year, all women on a benefit and 16-to-19-year-old daughters of beneficiaries will be able to obtain special-needs grants to pay for long-acting, reversible contraception.
Ms Rae said the blaming approach of the newly announced welfare reform was alarming.
"These reforms continue to ignore the fact that raising children is work, and that sole parents are doing the work of two people on their own."
Under the new measures, she said if a woman on the DPB had another child, she would have to look for part-time work when the baby turned 12 months old. Ms Rae said the approach was stigmatising and insulting.
"If the Government was sincere about the provision of free, long-acting contraception then rationally all women should be offered better access to this.
