What methods were used to try to control population growth in the second half of the twentieth century, and why did some of them arouse criticism?

The following are the methods used to control the population:

• During the set-up of United Nations Organisation, Planning Commission was also set-up along with its many agencies. UN took measures to control birth by undertaking birth-control programmes.
• Family planning clinics were made to make people aware about the birth-control methods and were given cheap contraceptives in India and Pakistan.
• Publicity campaigns were launched on large scale and posters with recommendation of three children per family. In Africa also the limit on children per family was three.
• In China, one women one child policy was adopted because it was believed that country’s resources would not be able to sustain its population.

These methods generated criticism as during the one woman one child policy, there were mass sterilisation and termination of pregnancies. This infanticide and forced abortion caused widespread criticism in China and around the world.
The pro-life Roman Catholics were also against the contraceptive methods as it was forbidden for its members.