“It’s Easier to Kill a Guerilla in the Womb than in the Mountains”: Examining 1970s Science for the People Articles about Population Control

Abstract

Members of the 1970s social justice movement Science for the People (SftP) expressed a moral obligation to use their own status and privilege, both as members of the scientific community and as US citizens, to advocate for poorer women of colour targeted by coercive population control initiatives. They felt a social responsibility to raise awareness of the human impact of their government’s development initiatives within an imperialist context. In addition, SftP examined the US feminist movement’s historical complicity in population control, identifying the shortcomings of their own movement. Publications in the SftP magazine allowed members to share these perspectives with the public, inviting debate and pushing for direct action. In doing so, their analysis reflects the beginnings of what we now term “intersectionality’”(Crenshaw, 1989)—recognising and labelling the power imbalances associated with different social identities.