Book contents
- Population Control as a Human Right
- Human Rights in History
- Population Control as a Human Right
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures, Maps, and Tables
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Overpopulation Discourse and the Post-1945 Order
- 3 Interventionist Population Policies of the 1950s
- 4 Breakthrough of a Human Rights Framework in the 1960s
- 5 Interpretive Struggles in the 1960s and 1970s
- 6 Crisis and Expansion of Human Rights in the 1970s
- 7 Domestic Interpretations of the Human Right to Family Planning
- 8 Conflicts over Reproductive Rights since the 1980s
- 9 Conclusion
- References
- Index
7 - Domestic Interpretations of the Human Right to Family Planning
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 October 2025
Book contents
- Population Control as a Human Right
- Human Rights in History
- Population Control as a Human Right
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures, Maps, and Tables
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Overpopulation Discourse and the Post-1945 Order
- 3 Interventionist Population Policies of the 1950s
- 4 Breakthrough of a Human Rights Framework in the 1960s
- 5 Interpretive Struggles in the 1960s and 1970s
- 6 Crisis and Expansion of Human Rights in the 1970s
- 7 Domestic Interpretations of the Human Right to Family Planning
- 8 Conflicts over Reproductive Rights since the 1980s
- 9 Conclusion
- References
- Index
Summary
The chapter explores contrasting approaches to population policy and family planning in Yugoslavia, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and India, focusing on the period from the 1950s to the 1980s. It discusses how Yugoslavia shifted toward supporting global population control policies in stark contrast to other Communist countries, while Ireland, a predominantly Catholic country, maintained strict anti-contraception laws. The United States evolved from reluctance to active involvement in global birth control programs to widespread financial support, and India transitioned to coercive sterilization policies during the state of emergency that was declared by Indira Gandhi in the mid-1970s. The chapter argues that UN resolutions around family planning and human rights played a key role for these policies despite the fact that these resolutions were not binding. How the resolutions were interpreted depended strongly on regional and local power configurations. The relationship among human rights frameworks, political decisions, and societal attitudes shaped the divergent paths taken by these countries in addressing demographic and family planning issues.
Information
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- Chapter
- Information
- Population Control as a Human RightInternational Law and the Global Quest to Curb Overpopulation, pp. 129 - 157Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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