‘When they force a woman, it’s to save her life’: Gendered vulnerability and contraceptive coercion

The global family planning movement’s entanglements with neo-Malthusian antinatalism, negative eugenics, and coercion at its foundation have been well-documented, but how eugenic ideologies and coercive tactics have evolved to manifest in current global family planning programs is less well-understood. Here, we draw from seventeen focus group discussions with women ages 15-49 in an anonymized African country to explore contraceptive coercion and eugenic logics in contemporary family planning programs through the lens of vulnerability and imperial feminism. We explore how respondents make sense of the pressure their communities face to use contraception, with results suggesting that coercion is commonplace in this context. Respondents shared a broad sense of acceptance of provider-imposed coercion, framing those who experience such coercion as vulnerable and in need of protection by healthcare providers and global development initiatives, whether they want it or not. The rationales offered to justify contemporary contraceptive coercion in this setting – poverty, disability, multiparity– often map closely to justifications for eugenic coercion that were promulgated over a century ago. These results highlight the need for a new research agenda to understand the extent of contraceptive coercion around the world, and to refocus the global family planning field on the promotion of contraceptive autonomy.