Population control abuses had the full support of the establishment

The U.S. government made foreign aid contingent on Third World countries’ adoption of population control programs and did not flinch when the reports of abuse rolled in. Private groups and individuals from the Ford Foundation to the Rockefellers poured money into reducing the population of developing countries. As the two most populous countries in the world, China and India were especially targeted. In China, the official one-child policy overseen by Xinzhong Qian required women to abort second children or be sterilized, and millions were forced to do so—by the open requirement of Chinese law. In India, desperate poor women by the millions were denied government aid unless they agreed to be sterilized, again openly and publicly so, by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s government. Even today, some Indian states deny government benefits to families with more than two children and offer payments to poor families to be sterilized. The most prominent population control organizations in the world then and now, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), supported such programs, and they were blessed by the highest level of the international establishment years after their abuses first became publicly known. “[I]t is not surprising that both the IPPF and UNFPA decided to help China implement the one-child policy,” wrote Connelly. “UNFPA even awarded Qian with the first United Nations Population Award, complete with diploma, gold medal, and a monetary prize of $12,500. Indira Gandhi was the co-winner. When the honorees came to New York to receive their awards, [United Nations] Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar congratulated them: ‘Considering the fact that China and India contain over 40% of humanity, we must all record our deep appreciation of the way in which their governments have marshaled the resources necessary to implement population policies on a massive scale.’” Qian was forced to resign his post shortly after receiving his UN award due to pressure from Chinese women’s groups.