Is the Birth Control Movement another Form of Imperialism

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Is the Birth Control Movement another Form of
Imperialism?

• In the 1960s the U.S. Peace Corp was accused of
  genocide in Bolivia
• Women claimed that they were sterilized against
  their will after they gave birth at hospitals
  with Peace Corps
• Movie made called Blood of the Condor accusing
  American Peace Corps doctorsPeace Corps thrown
  out of Bolivia
• Doctors in the United States performed many
  forced sterilizations within the U.S.
• The first sterilization law in the United States
  was passed in Indiana in 1907. By 1944, 30 states
  with sterilization laws had reported a total of
  more than 40,000 eugenical sterilizations -- with
  those sterilized reported as insane or
  feebleminded.

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The International Planned Parenthood Foundation

• Organization led by Margaret Sanger of the US,
  Elise Ottsen of Sweden, Dr. C.P. Blacker and Dr.
  Helena Wright of the UK, as well as leaders in
  the newly created federation of India, created
  the organization in 1952
• It has become the worlds second largest NGO,
  with over 180 countries participating.
• Founding members include Hong Kong, Singapore,
  Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, India, U.K. USA
• In terms of when groups organized
  internationally, African countries began to join
  as early as 1971 (Tunisia), and the Middle East
  in the early 1970s (Lebanon, Iraq, Morocco)
• Its success has sparked protests as well as new
  laws affirming womens right to birth control

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A Rand Corporation Poll Taken in 2000 shows U.S.
Division over Funding Family Planning Abroad
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What Happens if Governments Oppose Birth Control?
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Family Planning and the Rockefeller Foundation

• Began its family planning activities in 1953 by
  giving grants to Public Health programs in the
  United States to begin tracking fertility rates
  in women
• In 1955, it helped India set up its birth control
  program
• In 1958 it began to fund the Population Council,
  founded by John D. Rockefeller III in 1952 to
  promote informed population policies

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Functions of the Population Council

• Developing contraceptives and other products to
  improve reproductive health  
• Improving the quality and outreach of family
  planning and reproductive health services  
• Conducting research on reproductive health and
  behavior, family structure and function, gender
  issues, and the causes and consequences of
  population growth  
• Strengthening professional resources in
  developing countries through collaborative
  research, awards, fellowships, and training 
• Providing a forum for publication of innovative
  research in peer-reviewed journals, books,
  working papers, and regional monographs.
•  

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Current Contraceptive Use
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Contraceptive Use, Less Developed Countries
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Womens Need for Contraceptives
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A Brief History of Abortion

• Prior to the 19th century, abortion, both planned
  and spontaneous, was rarely regulated by law
  because it was difficult to ascertain what caused
  an abortion.
• Catholic Church did not always opposed abortion.
  St. Augustine in 400 AD sanctioned abortion for
  up to 80 days for a female fetus and 40 days for
  a male.
• 1588 Pope Sixtus banned all abortions, but his
  edict was rescinded by Pope Sixtus in 1591.
• Most anti-abortion laws passed in 19th century,
  particularly after distinguishing between before
  and after quickening
• 1869 Pope Pius IX forbade all abortions in return
  for Napoleon III acknowledging papal infallibility

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Abortion Across the World

• BRAZIL
• Abortion only legal if the life of the mother is
  in danger and the child is the result of rape
• Advocates want to amend the law to include
  deformed or retarded babies
• IRELAND
• Abortion made illegal in 1861
• In 1983 it passed the 8th Amendment to the
  Constitution declaring the right to life of the
  unborn
• In 1992 the ECU declared Ireland to be abusing
  human rights with its ban
• India
• Had population policies since 1950s
• Passed liberal abortion law in 1971, but few
  women can obtain access to it. Abortions, as
  well as number of children, can be examined in
  terms of literacy, access to land, and
  inheritance rights for womenvaries from state to
  state-also little demand for female babies

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Abortion in the United States

• Anti-abortion laws originally distinguished
  before and after quickening.
• Laws increased after the invention of x rays that
  could detect the presence of fetal bones in the
  bodies of accident victims
• Not until the 1940s could doctors detect hormones
  in womens blood that would indicate they had
  been pregnant
• 1967 Colorado and California became the first
  states to legalize abortion. A number of other
  states passed similar laws until the Supreme
  Court decided in Roe vs. Wade that abortion was
  legal.