History of Family Planning in Twentieth-Century Peru

Abstract

This book presents a history of family planning in Peru, where issues of sexual and reproductive health have for many years been highly contentious. The book analyzes family planning as a historical phenomenon layered with medical, social, global, religious, and moral implications. The implementation of the first family-planning programs in this Andean nation led to a rapid professionalization of fertility and population control by policymakers, demographers, and health and education activists. Complicating the evolution of associated medical and legal policies were the conflicting agendas of ordinary citizens and such power brokers as state officials, military leaders, medical professionals, Catholic clergy, and international health workers. At stake in this complex mix, the book argues, was nothing less than the future of gender relations, notions of individual autonomy, and the development of the national economy. While family planning promised a greater degree of control over individuals’ intimate lives, as well as opportunities for countries burdened by rapid population growth to boost their economic fortunes, the success of attempts to regulate fertility was far from assured. Today, the quality and availability of family planning in Peru has been improved but far from perfected.

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