Responsibility and Irresponsibility: Young Women and Family Planning

Abstract

The covert regulatory content of medical practice has been well documented. This paper presents the tensions inherent in family planning practice through a deconstruction of the views of practitioners in the field. It argues that behind the untroubled clinical appearance of contemporary family planning clinics, and despite its acceptance by the medical profession, there persist many of the `old' concerns about the state-sanctioned provision of contraception. Examination of the views of family planning professionals reveals a persistent and striking regulatory content to their practice, which is directed, in particular, towards young women whose life-styles are deemed 'irresponsible', and who are, therefore, considered illegitimate 'family planners'.