The imperialism of birth control

Submitted on September 25, 2003

Send to friendFew Americans know of the coercive population-control activities of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.N. Population Fund (UNPFA). There are only a few ways they would get such information since it is never covered by the mainstream American press or any Western media for that matter. This kind of information must be read in the Congressional Record or searched out on the Web sites of USAID and those who have been exploited by this organization. However, it is now a matter of public record that USAID and UNPFA joined forces under then Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori to support Peru’s aggressive and often coercive birth control program of the late 1990s. It is now proven with a large body of irrefutable evidence compiled in an exhaustive report by Peru’s current Ministry of Health, that Fujimori, with much help of USAID in 1997, launched a massive and involuntary sterilization campaign against poor ethnic women within Peru. Their strategy called for an emergency plan for an all-out mobilization of the country’s medical personnel to carry out tubal ligations during "sterilization festivals." Ninety thousand women were sterilized in 1997 and more than 300,000 would be sterilized in all. During the Spring 2000 legislative session, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights began investigating USAID involvement in the population-control scandal in Peru. What became clear was a program reminiscent of fascist Germany and China’s current coercive population control programs. Here is an abridged list of the abuses uncovered by the investigation: Women were sterilized without their knowledge or consent after unnecessary Caesarean sections. Women were injected against their will with Depo-Provera during pregnancy and made to use "family planning" pills made in the United States with threats of sterilization. Cash incentives were given to "family planning officials" for meeting family planning quotas Government documents set sterilization quotas. Documented deaths occurred from unhygienic conditions and/or medical malpractice during sterilization procedures Hush money was offered to families of victims. Food aid was withheld if women did not comply with forced sterilization measures. What is startling is the fact the USAID did not deny its complicity in this tremendous violation of women’s rights in Peru when its representatives were called to testify before a congressional committee. In response to the severe criticism of many on that committee, USAID claimed that "substantial progress has taken place ... in helping the government of Peru reform its family-planning program, so that all Peruvians can realize their reproductive intentions, with full information, voluntarily and safely" (USAID, "Congressional Presentation FY 2000: Peru"). However, Peru’s minister of health, Dr. Fernando Carbone, is continually attacked by USAID representatives for bringing to light the various methods of exploitation of women and men in Peru. The USAID-UNPFA even went so far as to launch a TV campaign against him. And on May 17, 2002, the USAID representative in Peru, Maria Borneck, signed a group letter calling the minister to approve USAID policy which would implement chemical abortion as a means of birth control. Borneck was allegedly disciplined for signing such a letter. To bring this corruption to light, several victims of this program have testified before Congress. Victoria Espinoza, a mother of three, had to have a C-section to safely give birth to her fourth child. During surgery, she was sterilized without her consent. She found out when she tried to have more children: "When I heard that, something deep in my heart broke," she said. "Now there is a hole inside." Likewise, Avelina Nolberto joined Victoria Espinoza in telling her story. Avelina, a poor woman from rural Peru, talked with a doctor who mentioned sterilization. Avelina had not made a decision for or against the procedure when populations control workers scheduled her for an operation. "I came back from an errand and there they were, with a taxi, waiting for me. They took me practically by force." Such inhuman exploitation of poor women and their families must be stopped, and the Bush administration must do more to end our government’s complicity against the rights of women in Third World nations.