The strategies countries use to control fertility have provoked the sharpest debates about population ethics. China & India have used outright coercion to promote sterilization or abortion. In China, women found to be pregnant with unauthorized children have been forced to undergo abortions. Between 1975 & 1977, police in some parts of India rounded up eligible men & required them to be sterilized.

Indonesia's use of strong community pressures to increase use of contraceptives has also been controversial. To gain new users the Indonesian government has relied on such methods as repeated visits to eligible women from village heads, family-planning workers, & members of Acceptors Clubs; pressure to accept intrauterine devices during "safaris" attended by prominent public officials; & promoting a positive image of small families.

Those defending coercion & heavy social pressures argue that countries such as China, India, & Indonesia require vigorous methods of fertility control to curb swelling populations. Voluntary methods, they say, will work too slowly to prevent damage to the economy & create impossible demands for a nation's schools and other public services.

Critics respond that applying force & heavy pressure violates human rights & disregards international agreements on fertility control, such as the 1974 World Population Plan of Action (United Nations).