We need a Christian (ie. not traditional Catholic) theology and strategy to cope with this tragedy. (Telling them to have fewer babies is a Western, stupid/ignorant response!)

*** Population to double in 74 poor countries – report

The population boom is still booming in the world’s poorest countries, even as it levels off in richer nations that encourage the education and employment of women, the Population Institute reported Tuesday. Seventy-four less developed countries can expect their populations to double in 30 years, and the world’s total population will reach 6 billion by mid-1999, it said in its annual overview. But in the 51 richest countries, populations are stabilizing, due in part to changes in the lives and rights of women, institute president Werner Fornos said. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=6695288-2d6

Subject: What world population crisis?

The recent discussions on `World population crisis’ were, as far as I recall, triggered by a post of Rowland’s. The post referred to an item on InfoBeat; a Reuters story quoting Werner Fornos, the president of the Population Institute. The interesting paragraph in that report is:

He disputed recent reports, notably in the New York Times magazine and the Wall Street Journal, indicating the global population boom had ended or there may even be a “population implosion”.

That is, the story was a response by the international abortion and contraception industry to recent articles drawing attention to the pending population implosion, particularly in the West. What was the tenor of these articles?

The following is from News Weekly, December 13, 1997, p16.

“The new population problem … already affects 51 countries, is evident in a further 37, and will soon involve two-thirds of the world’s population. It is the collapsing fertility rate…

“In a closed population, stability is maintained if every woman has 2.1 children(sic)…

“In Europe, where the birth dearth is so advanced, Italy ‘leads’ the field with a fertility rate of 1.24 (in affluent northern cities such as Milan it is markedly lower).”

The article goes on to quote Matt Ridley, science writer for the London Daily Telegraph.

“But all known human societies have gone through a remarkable transformation when they reach a certain level of prosperity, known as the demographic transition. First the death rate falls dramatically, and soon after the birth rate drops too, and keeps on dropping until it is below the death rate….

“Thailand’s fertility is below replacement level; Indonesia’s will be within two decades, Bangladesh’s soon after that.”

On China’s compulsory birth control policies, he says: “There never ws a need for such a brave new world. India, which threw off the yoke of Sanjay Ghandi’s birth control policies with disgust, will be down below replacement fertility by 2015: that is, it would have reached much the same point as China without the coercion.” Food for thought.

Side note on the international abortion and contraception industry. This is from `The Public Square’ in the March 1994 issue of First Things, just to show what a lucrative business it is.

“It’s called the Agency for International Development. That has a nice ring to it. The reality is not so pretty. The Administrator of AID, appointed by President Clinton, is J. Brian Atwood. Mr. Atwood lost no time in making clear that his number one priority is population control. Reversing the policy of the Reagan and Bush Administrations, last November AID gave $13.2 million to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). That is just a down payment on a $75 million commitment to IPPF over the next five years. According to IPPF, this is 20 percent of its total budget for Third World population control programs. But this is by no means the entirety of the Clinton Administration’s commitment to induce poor people to prevent or terminate pregnancies. Through the UN Fund for Population Activities and other organizations, the U.S. contributes $430 million each year to population control.”

Peter B. West