UN Agency Calls for Population Reduction, PRI Responds

According to PRI President Steven Mosher, while the
release pays lip service to human achievements, it also makes a veiled
demand for more population control.

Front Royal, VA, 05/05/11 — A recent
press release
by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
declares that the world’s population will reach 7 billion people on
October 21, 2011. According to PRI President Steven Mosher, while the
release pays lip service to human achievements, it also makes a veiled
demand for more population control.

In the release, UNFPA’s Executive Director Dr. Babatunde
Osotimehin states that “a world of 7 billion is both a challenge
and an opportunity. Globally, people are living longer, healthier
lives and choosing to have smaller families.”

However, Osotimehin goes on to say that “the population
projections underscore the urgent need to provide safe and effective
family planning to the 215 million women who lack it. 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.”

“At PRI, we agree that the world’s 7 billionth human is a
cause for celebration — a victory over death,” says Steven
Mosher. “And we agree that families should be free to determine
the number and spacing of their children. But Osotimehin is caught in
a contradiction of his own making. On the one hand he claims that
couples should be free to determine the number and spacing of their
children, while on the other he proposes that we lower the world’s
population?”

“Osotimehin’s language reflects the same obsession with
overpopulation that has driven the UNFPA agenda since its
founding,” Mosher continues. “What PRI’s research has
shown is that when population control ideas begin to drive policy, the
results are always the same: human rights abuses, broken families, and
bloodshed. China’s one-child policy, in which the UNFPA is an active
partner, is the best example of where the UNFPA’s population obsession
leads.”

“While the UNFPA claims that hundreds of millions of women
in the developing world are demanding contraceptives, our research
around the globe has shown that this is simply not true,”
concludes Mosher. “What they are actually crying out for is
better primary health care for themselves and their families. We
should stop funding population control programs and instead turn our
attention to real problems like malaria, typhus, and
HIV/AIDS.”

“People are our greatest resource. Everyone, rich or poor, is
a unique creation with something priceless to offer to the rest of
us.”

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