The United Nations has declared July 11 World Population Day. But according to the UN Population Fund, it is not a day to celebrate. Rather, it is a time to plan for fewer people. Or as the UNFPA euphemistically puts it, their campaigns seek to convince the world of the “essential part that reproductive health plays in creating a just and equitable world.” Over at ProWomanProLife, Jennifer Derwey counters the argument that reproductive health (read: contraception) is necessary for women to be equal, stating: “contraception doesn’t prevent all pregnancies, it doesn’t give women the choice of having sex or not, and it doesn’t enforce women’s rights.”
Chesterton said that when people talk about over-population, they inevitably mean an over-population of another group of people. Englishmen don’t think there are too many Englishmen and academics don’t think there are too many academics. No, Western population control advocates think there are too many people in the developing world (read: too many coloured people). UNFPA isn’t even subtle (although the average person seems too stupid to pick up on this): “In Western Africa, Middle Africa, Eastern Africa and Western Asia, the proportion of women in need of contraception who have unmet need for modern methods ranges from 50% to 81%.” This is not a matter of choice, as Derwey’s post articulates so nicely; this is about imposing a birth control agenda on the rest of the world. In 1994, the late Winifride Prestwich had a fantastic article in The Interim on the history of the depopulation movement. It is largely about eugenicists creating a population crisis.
I noted in a cover story last December that the world’s 7 billionth baby was a good thingfor several reasons. First, it symbolizes the strides the human race is making in conqueroring barbaric nature as evidenced through extended lifespans. Second, channeling Julian Simon, people are the world’s ultimate resource. As I noted in another cover story (July 2008), Malthus was wrong and concern about a growing population out-stripping the Earth’s capacity to provide for it is misplaced.
So Happy World Population day. May many more people celebrate it in the future.
