Even as states like Uttar Pradesh are considering a population control law that would penalise those having more than two children, and BJP MPs are set to introduce similar private member bills in parliament, just about seven months earlier, the centre had earlier opposed such a move in court. In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court last year, it said that such coercive family planning measures could be 'counter productive' and can lead to 'demographic distortions.'