Introductory Statement: The Objectives and History of Birth Planning

The major reasons given for population planning are health, human rights, ecological balance and political economy of population size. Contraception, however, is an old subject and has been used since classical times. France showed the earliest widespread use of contraception in Europe in the nineteenth century with the goal of improvement of family status. The extension of birth control in the U.S. was promoted by feminists such as Goldmann and Sanger as a necessary part in the emancipation of woman. The eugenics philosophy of population bloomed in the 1920s and 1930s and led in part to the policies of Hitler. In the 1960s the demographic factors of population growth were given more consideration. In the mid 1960s ecologists explained population growth as a damaging force to the environment through its depletion of resources and pollution, and thus felt it must be limited on ecological grounds. This mixture of reasons for population planning has led to a decrease in humanitarian concerns and thus the health and welfare of clients is often not the prime concern in population programs.