A Reflection on Contraceptive Use in Mexico in Light of Reproductive Rights

From preventive eugenics to slippery eugenics: Population control and contemporary sterilisations targeted to indigenous peoples in Mexico

“…When Luis Echevarría started his campaign for the presidency in 1970, ‘Mexico’s population was 48.3 million; by the end of his term in office, 6 years later, it had grown to more than 70 million’ (Soto Laveaga, 2009 , p. 2107). Before 1973, in line with pronatalism, contraceptives in Mexico were restricted by the Mexican Health Code (Figueroa Perea & Aguilar Ganado, 2006 ; Gutmann, 2007 ; Rodriguez‐Barocio et al., 1980 , p. 3). Due to the amendment of Article 4 of the constitution in the early 1970s, the government started offering contraceptives through governmental family planning services.…”

“…( 1980 ) frame population growth as a problem and praise the data produced by the CPS, describing it as ‘the most far‐reaching innovative [family planning programme] in the non‐Communist world’ (Rodriguez‐Barocio et al., 1980 , p. 4). According to Figueroa Perea and Aguilar Ganado ( 2006 ), the ‘success’ of these surveys obscured all the criticisms that arose from the practices of forced and coerced sterilisation by arguing that the population’s demands were being met.…”

“…They also argue that the family planning programme in Mexico was ‘not geared towards teaching detailed information about the process or methods of contraception’ (Korzenny et al., 1983 , p. 239). According to different scholars, the sterilisation practices done through family planning programmes were carried out in direct violation of Article 4 of the constitution, as people who underwent these procedures were not provided with adequate information, whilst others were given insufficient time between pregnancies, to name but a few of the contraventions (Figueroa Perea & Aguilar Ganado, 2006 ; Meléndez, 2009 ).…”

“…The second six‐year term of the National Family Plan was received differently by various groups and institutions—from the UN and the Mexican government to different feminist activist groups in Mexico (Gutmann, 2007 ). During the Second World Population Conference hosted in Mexico City in 1984 (Hartmann, 2016 , p. 115), the United Nations (UN) ‘acknowledged the need to reward the Mexican government for its “successful” population policy’ (Conelly, 2008 , p. 352; Figueroa Perea & Aguilar Ganado, 2006 , p. 4). This was based on the population control measures carried out during the first six‐year term and disregarded the critiques made by various sectors of the population regarding practices of forced and coerced sterilisation.…”

“…This was based on the population control measures carried out during the first six‐year term and disregarded the critiques made by various sectors of the population regarding practices of forced and coerced sterilisation. As a result, a group of researchers and activists created the National Survey on Risk Factors in Hormonal Contraceptives in the same year which concluded that forced and coerced sterilisation practices were being targeted mostly towards vulnerable groups (i.e., indigenous and rural communities) (Figueroa Perea & Aguilar Ganado, 2006 , p. 5; Meléndez, 2009 , p. 157). This resulted in the creation of different teaching guides by the government and researchers for medical personnel in 1986 (Figueroa Perea & Aguilar Ganado, 2006 , p. 6).…”