Restructuring reproduction

Abstract

In 1968, the United Nations began viewing family planning as a human rights issue, relaxing the previous focus on population control. By the 1990s, UN documents empowered women in reproductive matters and urged governments to ensure women's access to a wider range of family planning services. However, after decades of widespread contraceptive usage, below-replacement fertility rates are once again worrying some governments in developed countries. This article traces policy and discourse changes relating to contraception, abortion and fertility decline, focusing on the `liberal' welfare states. Despite international pressure on governments, programs and discourse remain cross-nationally diverse, influenced by domestic politics and the relative strength of competing interest groups arguing about public funding, alternatives to `natural increase', maternal employment and the politics of choice.