Lima - Mounting evidence that the Peruvian government's family planning programme is employing coercion, misinformation or promises of food to persuade poor women to undergo sterilisation has prompted public outcry and calls for an official investigation.
The heart of the issue is whether the government, in an effort to curb population growth, is using a quota system that offers public health doctors promotions in exchange for convincing poor rural women - who are often illiterate and speak only local Indian languages - to be sterilised. Many also are charging that doctors, in the rush to meet the alleged quotas, are operating in unsanitary conditions that reportedly have caused at least two deaths.