The 1965 National Fertility Survey was the first of three surveys that succeeded the Growth of American Families surveys (1955 and 1960) aimed at examining marital fertility and family planning in the United States. Currently married women were queried on the following main topics: residence history, marital history, education, income and employment, family background, religiosity, attitudes toward contraception and sterilization, birth control pill use and other methods of contraception, fecundity, family size, fertility expectations and intentions, abortion, and world population growth. Respondents were asked about their residence history, including what state they grew up in, whether they had lived with both of their parents at the age of 14, and whether they had spent any time living on a farm. Respondents were also asked a series of questions about their marital history. Specifically, they were asked about the duration of their current marriage, whether their current marriage was their first marriage, total number of times they had been married, how previous marriages ended, length of engagement, and whether their husband had children from a previous marriage. Respondents were asked what was the highest grade of school that they had completed, whether they had attended a co-ed college, and to give the same information about their husbands. Respondents were asked about their 1965 income, both individual and combined, their occupation, whether they had been employed since marriage, if and when they stopped working, and whether they were self-employed. They were also asked about their husband's recent employment status. With respect to family background, respondents were asked about their parents' and their husband's parents' nationalities, education, religious preferences, and total number children born alive to their mother and mother-in-law, respectively. In addition, respondents were asked about their, and their husband's, religious practices including their religious preferences, whether they had ever received any Catholic education, how religious-minded they perceived themselves to be, how often they prayed at home, and how often they went to see a minister, rabbi, or priest. Respondents were asked to give their opinions with respect to contraception and sterilization. They were asked whether they approved or disapproved of contraception in general, as well as specific forms of contraception, whether information about birth control should be available to married and unmarried couples, and whether the federal government should support birth control programs in the United States and in other countries. They were also asked whether they approved or disapproved of sterilization operations for men and women and whether they thought such a surgery would impair a man's sexual ability. Respondents were asked about their own knowledge and use of birth control pills. They were asked if they had ever used birth control pills and when they first began using them. They were then asked to give a detailed account of their use of birth control pills between 1960 and 1965. Respondents were also asked to explain when they discontinued use of birth control pills and what the motivation was for doing so. Respondents were also asked about their reproductive cycle, the most fertile days in their cycle, the regularity of their cycle, and whether there were any known reasons why they could not have or would have problems having children. Respondents were asked about their ideal number of children, whether they had their ideal number of children or if they really wanted fewer children, as well as whether their husbands wanted more or less children than they did. Respondents were then asked how many additional births they expected, how many total births they expected, when they expected their next child, and at what age they expected to have their last child. Respondents were asked how they felt about interrupting a pregnancy and whether they approved of abortion given different circumstances such as if the pregnancy endangered the woman's health, if the woman was not married, if the couple could not afford another child, if the couple did not want another child, if the woman thought the child would be deformed, or if the woman had been raped. Respondents were also asked to share their opinions with respect to world population growth. T

The 1970 National Fertility Survey (NFS) was the second in a series of three surveys that followed the Growth of American Families surveys (1955 and 1960) aimed at examining marital fertility and family planning in the United States. Women were queried on the following main topics: residence history, age and race, family background, pregnancies, abortions and miscarriages, marriage history, education, employment and income, religion, use of family planning clinics, current and past birth control pill use and other methods of contraception, sterility, ideals regarding childbearing, attitudes and opinions with respect to abortion, gender roles, sterilization and world population, and birth histories. Respondents were asked to give residence histories for themselves and their husbands. Specifically, they were asked about the state they grew up in, whether they had lived with both parents, whether they had lived on a farm growing up, and whether they were currently living on a farm. Respondents were asked to give their date of birth, current age and race, as well as that of their husband. Regarding family background, respondents were asked how many brothers and sisters that they had, whether their siblings were older or younger, and whether there were any twins in the family. Additionally, respondents were asked to summarize their pregnancy history by giving information with respect to total number of pregnancies, live births, miscarriages, and abortions. Regarding abortions, respondents also were asked to give the date of the abortion and if they had used any family planning techniques prior to the abortion. Respondents were queried about their marriage history, specifically they were asked whether this was their first marriage, whether it was their spouse's first marriage, and their total number of marriages. If previously married, respondents were asked about the dates of past marriages and reasons for the marriage ending (e.g., death, divorce, or annulment). Respondents were asked a series of questions about both their own and their spouse's education including number of grades completed, current educational status, schooling completed after marriage, highest grade completed, and highest grade the respondent and spouse hoped to complete. All respondents were queried about their own and their husband's employment situations, as well as their household income. Respondents were asked about employment prior to and after marriage, employment after the birth of their first child, reasons for working, future employment expectations, earned income for both the respondent and husband in 1970, and other sources of income. There was also a series of questions on religion including religious preferences growing up, current religious preferences, and the importance of religion for both the respondent and her husband. Respondents were asked whether they had ever been to a family planning clinic, whether methods of family planning were discussed with a doctor or other medically trained person, whether this had taken place in the last 12 months, and if not, when the last time was. Several questions were devoted to the respondent's current and past use of the birth control pill and other methods of contraception such as the IUD and the diaphragm. Specifically, respondents were asked how they obtained the method of contraception for the first time, whether the respondent had sought methods of contraception from a doctor, and whether they had discussed with a doctor problems related to the methods of contraception. Respondents were asked why they used the pill and other methods of contraception, why they had stopped using a particular method, whether the methods were being used for family planning, and during what intervals the methods were used. Respondents also were asked questions about sterility including whether they were able to have children, whether they or their husband had undergone a sterilization operation, and if so, what kind of operation it was, the motive for having such an operation, whether the respondent had arrived at menopause, and if they had seen a doctor if they were unable to have a baby. They were also asked about their ideals with respect to children including their ideal number of children, the ideal number of boys and girls, as well as the ideal age for having their first and last child. The survey also sough