10/5/11 - UN population projections prompt calls for population control

In the wake of the release of increased population projections by the United Nations Population Fund last week, predicting the birth of the world’s 7 billionth baby in late October of this year, calls for measures to control the world’s population have surged. The report says that the global population is rising faster than anticipated in previous reports and will likely reach 9.31 billion instead of 9.15 billion by 2050.  UNFPA has released plans for activities to “underline the significance of this population milestone.”  Under the guise of aiding women’s “universal access to reproductive health,” UNFPA has been promoting abortion and contraceptive availability for years, especially in the developing world, and has recently begun pushing STD vaccinations as well. “The population projections underscore the urgent need to provide safe and effective family planning to the 215 million women who lack it,” UNFPA Executive Director, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin emphasized.

 UN population projections prompt calls for population control

by Rebecca Millette

NEW YORK, May 9, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In the wake of the release of increased population projections by the United Nations Population Fund last week, predicting the birth of the world’s 7 billionth baby in late October of this year, calls for measures to control the world’s population have surged.
The report says that the global population is rising faster than anticipated in previous reports and will likely reach 9.31 billion instead of 9.15 billion by 2050.  UNFPA has released plans for activities to “underline the significance of this population milestone.” 

Under the guise of aiding women’s “universal access to reproductive health,” UNFPA has been promoting abortion and contraceptive availability for years, especially in the developing world, and has recently begun pushing STD vaccinations as well.

“The population projections underscore the urgent need to provide safe and effective family planning to the 215 million women who lack it,” UNFPA Executive Director, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin emphasized.
“Small variations in fertility – when multiplied across countries and over time – make a world of difference. We must invest the resources to enable women and men to have the means to exercise their human right to determine the number and spacing of their children.”

According to the “2010 Revision of World Population Prospects,” there will be 10.1 billion people on the planet by 2100.  This is the first time the UN has made predictions so far into the future.  However, the report adds that if global fertility increased by a half a child per woman, that figure could reach nearly 16 billion.
While prediction figures are based on an assumption that growth will taper during the coming years, Hania Zlotnik, head of the UN economic department’s population division, said that “doesn’t seem to us as very probable at this moment,” according to the National Post.

Zlotnik said the October date should be taken “with a grain of salt” because it relies on current trends that have clearly gone amiss in the past.

Suzanne Ehlers, president of Washington-based Population Action International, called the new projections “a wake-up call for governments to fulfill the global demand for contraception.”
“In developing countries around the world, millions of women want to prevent pregnancy but don’t have access to contraception,” said Ehlers. “This impacts their health, their educational opportunities, and their ability to provide for their families.”

Ehlers advocates universal “access to family planning” for “healthier lives” and “protecting our planet.”
Meanwhile, Steven Mosher, President of the Population Research Institute, takes a different view.  UNFPA’s claims of women demanding contraceptives are “simply not true,” said Mosher, adding that these women instead are “crying out” for better health care for themselves and their families.

“Their cries are ignored by the population controllers at the UNFPA and elsewhere, however, who are bent not upon saving lives, but upon reducing the number of people on the planet,” said Mosher.
Demographics indicate a world better off with population growth, cited Mosher.  Worldwide income, infant mortality rates, life expectancy, education level, and caloric intake have been getting dramatically better since 1800 or when there was only 1 billion people on the planet.

“The UNFPA and other population control organizations are loath to report the truth about falling fertility rates worldwide, since they raise funds by frightening people with the specter of overpopulation,” he said. “They tell us that too many babies are being born to poor people in developing countries. This is tantamount to saying that only the wealthy should be allowed to have children, and is a new form of global racism.”
“We should stop funding population control programs, and instead turn our attention to real problems like malaria, typhus, and HIV/AIDS,” concluded Mosher. “Baby Seven Billion, boy or girl, red or yellow, black or white, is not a liability, but an asset. Not a curse, but a blessing. For all of us.”