The trajectory of the center for research and attention to women and children (1975-1992)

Abstract

This article presents the debate about demographic growth and family planning in Brazil through the study of the trajectory of one of the actors who engaged actively in this debate, Dr. Helio Aguinaga, founder and director of CPAIMC (Center for research and attention to women and children), private assistance institution, sponsored by international organizations, which participated in the diffusion of birth control and female sterilization between 1970 and 1990. The analysis of his trajectory since the creation of the institution, in 1974, until his involvement with the CPMI (Parlamentary Comission of Investigation), which investigated the accusation of mass sterilization in Brazil and concluded its investigations in 1993, give us the frame to discuss the following issues: 1) to comprehend how the public representation of CPAIMC as an “instrument of foreigner institutions to control population growth in Brazil” was built. 2) How the accusation of CPAIMC, leaded by politicians, feminist organizations and specialists in the field of health and in population studies, contributed to the promotion of another conception of reproduction politics: the concept of female reproductive rights.