ABSTRACT

Criticisms of population control programs continued on many fronts during the 1980s. This chapter explores how the Global Women's Health and Rights Movement (GWHRM) used the opening in the international opportunity structure to challenge the population control norm. It also explores the interplay between domestic politics within the United States and international policy-making. The chapter discusses the contrast between the US position at the 1984 Mexico City conference as compared to the 1974 Bucharest conference. Also during this decade, the United States withdrew from its role as the most vocal country in support of population control. The also focuses upon developments in the late 1980s and early 1990s, which highlight these two processes. In July 1984, just before the Mexico City conference, a large number of women's health activists attended the first global conference convened by the International Campaign on Abortion, Sterilization, and Contraception (ICASC) in Amsterdam. Human rights discourse is powerful because it makes oppositional claims in the world.