WOMEN: FAMILY PLANNING. ATTITUDES TO BIRTH CONTROL
The term ‘birth control’ is now unpopular in some parts of the world. Before the Second World War, any family limitation was heavily frowned upon by the authorities and regarded with suspicion and fear by many of the public, even those who knew deep down that they needed it. In many countries contraception was forbidden by the Church, and abortion and the sale of contraceptives was outlawed by the State. This is still the case in some places.
After 1945 many countries impoverished by the war (for example Japan and most Eastern European countries) tried to limit population growth by a strict discouragement of large families, mainly through abortion. These policies caused much dilemma and unhappiness among people who still held moral and religious objections to contraception and abortion. Birth control became associated with unacceptable restriction of freedom.
In the 1950s, when world population growth became an international concern, the terms ‘family planning’ and ‘planned parenthood’ were introduced. These terms imply a freedom of choice that softens the concept of birth control. The concept of choice was re-emphasised in 1968, when the International Conference on Human Rights adopted a resolution stating: ‘… Parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children’.
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