birth control
[On the eve of birth control. II]

[Article in Polish]

Smolinski Z.

PIP: The results of a 1981 sample survey on family planning in Poland show that the average birth ratio for couples married in 1975 is 2.1 (2.0 in the cities and 2.5 in rural areas). With a much lower mortality rate, this minimal reproduction ratio still provides the fairly high natural population growth which is characteristic of all industrialized nations. This birth ratio is maintained by almost universal use of various birth control methods after 6-7 years of marriage, i.e., an average family with 2 children is planned and created by means of contraceptives and abortions. The family planning situation in Poland is discussed for women who: 1) plan to have more children, 2) might change their decision not to have more children, and 3) made a final decision not to have more children. The reasons for these decisions are thoroughly analyzed. Particular attention is paid to the extent to which couples are able to reach their reproductive objectives. The analysis indicates that many couples would have had more children if the husband received a higher salary, housing conditions were better, and the mother could quit her job for at least some period of time. Birth control is used because most couples are satisfied with having 2 children and consider their reproductive objectives fulfilled.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12268683&dopt=Abstract birth control



birth control
Birth control, population control, and family planning: an overview.

Critchlow DT.

PIP: This overview of the US birth control movement reflects on the emergence of family planning policy due to the efforts of Margaret Sanger, feminists, and the civil rights movement, the eugenics motive to limit "deviant" populations, and the population control movement, which aims to solve social and economic problems through fertility control. Population control moved through three stages: from the cause of "voluntary motherhood" to advance suffrage and women's political and social status, to the concept of "birth control" promoted by socialist feminists to help empower women and the working class, to, from 1920 on, a liberal movement for civil rights and population control. Physicians such as Dr. Robert Latou Dickinson legitimized the movement in the formation of the Committee on Maternal Health in 1925, but the movement remained divided until 1939, when Sanger's group merged with the American Birth Control League, the predecessor of the present Planned Parenthood Federation of America. A key legal decision in 1939 in the United States v. One Package amended the Comstock Act and allowed for the distribution of birth control devices by mail to physicians. Sanger, after a brief retirement, formed the International Planned Parenthood Federation and supported research into the pill. Eugenicists through the Committee on Maternal Health supported Christopher Tietze and others developing the pill. Final constitutional access to contraception based on the right to privacy was granted in Griswold v. Connecticut. The ruling in Eisenstadt v. Baird in 1972 extended this right to unmarried persons. The right to privacy was further extended in the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 on legal abortion. The argument for improving the quality of the population remained from the formation of the Population Reference Bureau in 1929 through the 1960s. Under the leadership of Rockefeller, population control was defined as justified on a scientific and humanitarian basis. US government support for national and international family planning proceeded slowly through the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Congress during 1967-70 enacted strong legislation in support of national and international family planning. The Bucharest conference in 1974 highlighted the inadequacies of international population control that deemphasized economic development. Polarization and divisiveness on population policy persists.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12346341&dopt=Abstract birth control



birth control
The birth control movement before Roe v. Wade.

Reed JW.

PIP: This essay synthesizes the history of the birth control movement in the US and describes changes in sexual behavior, social values, and public policy in order to provide a context for the changes in human reproductive public policy. After an introduction, the essay outlines the history of contraception from the early nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries. Part 3 covers the period of World War I to the Depression when civil libertarians and eugenicists began to question the suppression of contraception and Margaret Sanger organized her clinics. The fourth part of the essay carries the history forward to the end of World War II, a period in which Dr. Clarence J. Gamble began to expose the marketing of defective contraceptive methods and to illustrate the willingness of poor women to accept contraceptives. The social changes which began in the 1950s are the subject of the fifth section of the essay. During this period, Roman Catholic opposition to contraception lessened, and social scientists began to focus world attention on overpopulation. Frank Notestein was appointed the first head of the Office of Population Research at Princeton, and John D. Rockefeller III founded the Population Council which conducted research into the IUD and began to attempt to influence population growth in nonindustrialized countries. This period also saw the development of the oral contraceptive. The changes of this era were institutionalized in 1967 when the federal government took a positive stance towards family planning in its Social Security Amendments. The decade of the 1970s is the subject of the last part of this essay. This period saw the Supreme Court assign a constitutionally protected right to abortion and Congress pass the Helms Amendment which denied the use of foreign aid funds for abortions. Challenges to the right to individual birth control practice continued during this period, and debate centered around the specter of overpopulation, the threat of adolescent pregnancy, and perceptions of "family values."

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12346344&dopt=Abstract birth control



birth control
World population growth, family planning, and American foreign policy.

Sharpless J.

PIP: The US decision since the 1960s to link foreign policy with family planning and population control is noteworthy for its intention to change the demographic structure of foreign countries and the magnitude of the initiative. The current population ideologies are part of the legacy of 19th century views on science, morality, and political economy. Strong constraints were placed on US foreign policy since World War II, particularly due to presumptions about the role of developing countries in Cold War ideology. Domestic debates revolved around issues of feminism, birth control, abortion, and family political issues. Since the 1960s, environmental degradation and resource depletion were an added global dimension of US population issues. Between 1935 and 1958 birth control movements evolved from the ideologies of utopian socialists, Malthusians, women's rights activists, civil libertarians, and advocates of sexual freedom. There was a shift from acceptance of birth control to questions about the role of national government in supporting distribution of birth control. Immediately postwar the debates over birth control were outside political circles. The concept of family planning as a middle class family issue shifted the focus from freeing women from the burdens of housework to making women more efficient housewives. Family planning could not be taken as a national policy concern without justification as a major issue, a link to national security, belief in the success of intervention, and a justifiable means of inclusion in public policy. US government involvement began with agricultural education, technological assistance, and economic development that would satisfy the world's growing population. Cold War politics forced population growth as an issue to be considered within the realm of foreign policy and diplomacy. US government sponsored family planning was enthusiastic during 1967-74 but restrained during the 1980s. The 1990s has been an era of redefinition of the issues and increased divisiveness among environmentalists, feminists, and population control advocates. The current justification of US population program assistance is based on concern for the health of women and children. Future changes will be dependent on ideology, theology, and political philosophy.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12346346&dopt=Abstract birth control



birth control
[Diffusion through social interaction and fertility transition: quantitative and qualitative evidence from Costa Rica]

[Article in Spanish]

Rosero Bixby L, Casterline JB.

PIP: Explanations of the fertility transition in Costa Rica, as elsewhere in developing societies, have stressed the impacts of socioeconomic changes on the demand for children and of increased supply of family planning services. This paper goes beyond this demand-supply paradigm and examines the additional causal contribution of the "contagion" of birth control practices by social interaction. Aiming at conceptual precision, a simple dynamic model is used to simulate a fertility transition process with interaction diffusion effects. An inspection of the data about the Costa Rican transition shows several characteristics suggesting interaction diffusion effects, notably its pervasiveness toward all socioeconomic strata and the lack of evidence of a downward shift in fertility preferences. Maps of the timing of fertility transition indicate an ordered spatial pattern suggestive of contagion between neighboring areas. An areal regression analysis reveals inter- and within-area contagion effects on birth control adoption. Focus group discussions show real-life situations of interaction diffusion for birth control adoption. These discussions also give qualitative hints of the circumstances surrounding diffusion of birth control, as well as give hints of major value changes that paralleled fertility transition in Costa Rica. (author's)

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12347047&dopt=Abstract birth control



birth control
Men and women together: the impact of birth control technology on male-female relationships.

Whicker ML, Kronenfeld JJ.

The authors argue that "birth control technologies have fundamentally altered the nature of male-female relationships....New sequences of love, intimacy, sex, and marriage in male-female relationships emerged. The expanded number of choices for individuals has simultaneously created new freedom and opportunity, as well as uncertainty and confusion in male-female relationships. New norms for cross-sex interactions and the new post-birth control morality are still evolving." The geographic focus is on developed countries. excerpt

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12268863&dopt=Abstract birth control



birth control
[Agricultural production responsibility system and the work of family planning in the rural area]

[Article in Chinese]

Zhu M.

PIP: With the establishment of the agricultural production responsibility system, the entire agricultural management and economic system has undergone great changes, and family planning in rural areas has met with many difficulties. Because of this responsibility system, households with more manpower seem to become wealthy more rapidly than others. An existing belief among the rural population is that more children will provide a larger labor force and thus more income. Birth control and family planning are therefore becoming more difficult. In order to change existing beliefs, a comprehensive ideological education for peasants is needed so that they may understand the question of birth control from the viewpoints of national interests. Economic rewards and administrative restrictions may be used as necessary birth control measures. Agricultural production and family planning can be managed well if there is close contact and cooperation between the cadres and the masses. Extra care and benefits should be given to women of childbearing age who undergo birth control operations and agree to a single child in each household. Welfare programs for the masses, such as kindergartens and nursing homes must be established in order to reduce their worries. In addition, efforts are needed to study the new situation and solve new problems. The goal of controlling the rural population growth should be achiefed through practical work and experience.

Online source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12339502&dopt=Abstract birth control