World population explosion must be dealt with urgently

If President Bush wants to understand what's happening today with regard to children being born in the Third World, he should talk to a mother in northern India who doesn't want a larger family but doesn't have the power to tell her husband "enough." Or he should talk to the leader of some war-torn, disease-ridden African nation that can barely feed its population but must deal with thousands of babies coming into the world each year, only to face a life of misery.
Better yet, the president should sit down with Werner Fornos, president of the Population Institute in Washington, D.C., and hear what he has to say about the current population trends. We did -- and we are convinced that the United States must take the lead in a worldwide campaign to help the 350 million women who don't want any more babies. Not only should they have the ability to say "no" but should also have the means to make their decisions count.
"We've conquered death through medical breakthroughs, mass inoculations and sanitary improvements," Fornos told Vindicator writers. "We have been less successful, however, in making a wide variety of effective, efficient and affordable methods of family planning universally accessible."
And that's the key: universal family planning. Not abortion, as some in the Bush administration and the Republican Party suggest. Independent studies have been conducted to determine how money allocated by various nations for sustainable population is spent and their conclusion is that there is no basis to presume that abortion has become a form of birth control.
Finger of blame
Fornos is not shy about pointing the finger of blame for President Bush's refusal to commit a relatively small sum of money to the United Nations Population Fund. He says that Pope John Paul II is among those who has succeeded in persuading the administration that abstinence is the only form of birth control this country should support.
Such a position ignores the reality that exists in the underdeveloped world. When someone is illiterate and poor, talking about abstinence is as foreign as talking about a four-course meal. In many poor countries, wealth is measured by the number of children, especially males, in a family.
Bush must realize that contraceptives and other forms of birth control offer the best hope for reversing the global population trend. In 1960, there were 3 billion people in the world. Today, there are 6.2 billion. By 2050, it is estimated that the population will grow to 9.5 billion. The problems associated with so many people living on earth are easy to imagine. For instance, today, in many parts of the world, clean drinking water is a luxury. By 2050, water could become the new reason for global conflict.
The president has withheld a $34 million appropriation approved by Congress for the United Nations Population Fund. We would urge him to do the right thing and release the money.