Some Political and Ethical Problems in the Development of Family Planning

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the political and ethical aspects of the development of family planning for the underprivileged and with the use of the underprivileged as subjects in clinical trials of new contraceptive technology. In the past decade family planning has evolved from a component of corporate philanthropy to a major U.S. government policy. The diffusion of family planning has been aided by its apparent “depoliticization” and “internationalization.” Differences of sex, race, nationality and class between researchers and subjects suggest ethical shortcomings in the clinical investigation of new contraceptive technology. The further diffusion of family planning depends partly on developing more acceptable methods and partly on developing new methods of dissemination. Various public opinion campaigns and incentive schemes designed to increase the acceptance of family planning by the underprivileged represent a move from voluntarism toward coercion. It is unfortunate that the development of the potentially liberating practice of family planning has been accompanied by these exploitative phenomena.