After writing the above response, I thought to myself, why do I know that education is not a contraceptive and feel so strongly about it? An easy answer: my experience as a high school teacher in Kenya (1976-79; St. Lucy's Girls Sec. School, South Nyanza). Our biggest retention problem for our high school girls was not illness, nor lack of funds to continue — it was pregnancy. Although St. Lucy's is a boarding secondary school, an unknown number of girls became pregnant during the 3 one-month vacation breaks each year. I indicated "an unknown number" because one of the schools leading health problems was self-induced abortion. Once a student figured out that she was pregnant, she often induced abortion through over-dosing on chloroquine (then the most popular malaria prophylaxis) — in other words, mildly poisoning herself to induce abortion. The method is very effective, and very dangerous. Students aborted into the pit latrines where they could dispose of the fetus at night, though traces were often discovered the next morning.
Thus, Mr. Kristoff, I beg to differ — education is not an effective contraceptive. I realize that you mean well in promoting girls education — and it is worth promoting for many reasons. It does not substitute for access to a wide choice of modern contraception and the information that supports its safe use.