The family planning movement of the last thirty years has been an extraordinary governmental and private investment in reproductive health services, sex education and the prevention of illness and death. With the advent of AIDS, their successes and failures provide both useful and cautionary models for combatting the epidemic. The birth control crusades and associated health care delivery systems have dramatically altered maternal and child health statistics as well as the quality of individual lives in America. But the family planning establishment is weak just where the AIDS epidemic has gained strength: for adolescents, poor women and minorities. Sex education curricula and health care programs in areas such as teenage pregnancy, contraceptive use and sexual decision‐making have systematic problems in delivery and effectiveness. AIDS education and prevention programs can learn from and contribute to the family planning movement.