The Fight For Family Planning: The Development of Family Planning Services in Britain 1921-74

Repression and incitement: A critical demographic, feminist, and transnational analysis of birth control in Estonia, 1920–1939

“…Fisher shows that, despite the increase in the availability of birth control texts, methods, clinics, and organizations, timidness and ignorance often characterized how British couples approached regulating their own fertility (see also Leathard, 1980;Soloway, 1982;Szreter, 1996;Szreter & Fisher, 2010). In part, this had to do with the lack of a coherent social process that would have allowed people to learn about birth controlrelated ideas, practices, and appliances that were found in certain areas of society located outside of their everyday lives.…”

“…Three of the countries -Britain, Sweden, and Weimar Germany -witnessed a vigorous, albeit contested, growth of organizational activities that sought to spread knowledge about contraception as well as make it more acceptable, available, and affordable. Setting up or enlisting the help of clinics or health centers was part of the process (Cook, 2004;Fisher, 2006;Grossmann, 1995;Leathard, 1980;Linder, 1996;Soloway, 1982). In Soviet Russia, where abortion was legal in the 1920s, a broad-based organizational activity was absent.…”

“…In many countries, marriage counseling centers and maternal and child advice centers became the sites where birth control advice was made available in a systematic fashion (Birth Control Review, 1920-1939Grossmann, 1995;Leathard, 1980;Soloway, 1982). In Estonia, there were 24 maternal and child counseling centers, but the numerous reports on their work did not refer to birth control ("Emade-ja lastekaitse", 1937).…”

‘We Do Not Use the Word “Crisis” Lightly …’

“…Initially called venereology, in the 1970s the speciality was renamed genitourinary medicine (GUM), but this was hardly a more user-friendly label. Contraception providers faced similar difficulties, with the use from the 1930s of the euphemistic 'family planning' for services whose clients were in the main trying to avoid rather than plan conception (Leathard, 1980).…”

“…In the 1930s the government allowed limited contraceptive provision in maternal and child welfare clinics to married women 'in cases where further pregnancy would be detrimental to health' (Weeks, 1989, p. 193). By 1950, only 51 of 145 local authorities in England and Wales provided clinic sessions available to married women on 'medical grounds only' (Leathard, 1980). Most commentators believe that public sexual attitudes changed significantly over the course of the twentieth century.…”