Abstract

Contraception as an Instrument Against Population Growth: Expert Discussions and the Public Sphere in 1960s West Germany. Theoretically, the introduction of the contraceptive pill in the 1960s created new possibilities to control population growth on a global scale. Several of those involved in developing the pill belonged to the transnational population control movement. In the Federal Republic, demographic and medical experts in the 1960s debated the advantages and dangers of the new contraceptive, and they argued about whether it could be of benefit in West Germany and/or in developing countries. The paper examines the contemporary debate about the pill and the role it was awarded in the effort to solve what was considered a global population problem.