Reflecting on the stories of those affected by sterilization, it is hard to understand through our modern, rights-based perspective how these sterilizations could have occurred. At the same time, it is very easy to wax indignant about the operations and to conclude that they were ordered and performed by uncaring officials. We began by assuming the situation was more complicated: that such individuals were a product of a culture that emphasized social responsibility as much if not more than individual entitlement; that they performed jobs they regarded as socially important and morally defensible; and that they found themselves in situations that most reasonable people would regard as difficult. Even if one wishes to reject these assumptions, the fact remains that individuals were part of this history, and only a one-sided account would deny them their voice.

The first point to make is that the social problems, above all poverty, were undeniably real. And these problems did indeed convince many professionals that birth control was the solution.