Warning: Non-Peruvian Post "Lies, damn lies, and population control..."

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=14730

I thought this article was fascinating. I bought a book a few months ago entitled, The End of Poverty. This book was purchased because I thought I could learn a few things about erradicating poverty before coming to Peru. One of the main theses of the book was that by reducing the birthrate in developing countries, we can increase their economic prosperity. This could only be accomplished through the use of artificial birth control and abortion on demand.

The book went on to describe how families with fewer children could spend more time working and educating themselves to become more "productive" in the workforce.

While families with fewer commitments do have more time to educate themselves, there are serious consequences to this approach, many of which were predicted by Pope Paul VI in his Encyclical Humanae Vitae (On Human Life).
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html

1. Higher divorce rates
2. Increased domestic abuse
3. Lowerr birth rates
4. Increased unwanted pregnancies
5. Earlier sex and with more partners
6. Increased abortions

A prophetic excerpt from 1968:

Consequences of Artificial Methods
17. Responsible men can become more
deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this
issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial
birth control. Let them first consider how easily this course of action could
open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral
standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and
to understand that human beings—and especially the young, who are so exposed to
temptation—need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to
make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for
alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may
forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and
emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the
satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom
he should surround with care and affection.

Finally, careful consideration should be given to the danger of this
power passing into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the
precepts of the moral law. Who will blame a government which in its attempt to
resolve the problems affecting an entire country resorts to the same measures as
are regarded as lawful by married people in the solution of a particular family
difficulty? Who will prevent public authorities from favoring those
contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard
this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone. It could well
happen, therefore, that when people, either individually or in family or social
life, experience the inherent difficulties of the divine law and are determined
to avoid them, they may give into the hands of public authorities the power to
intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife.

It seems counter-intuitive to think that something created to eliminate unwanted pregnancies and give more "control" over our bodies, has actually given us less control. What was the rationale of the Supreme Court for legalizing abortion? Since we have legalized birth control, we must offer a "safety net" when "the pill" fails.

Some may read this and note that we have almost 7 billion people in this world, and well, we need population control because we don't have the natural rescources to take care of all these people. Well, that is a real concern, but it's not entirely true! If you have read the book, Made to Stick, you are aware that certain urban legends somehow become viral and spread, regardless of their validity. For instance, humans actually use more than 10% of our brains. If we used only 10%, then brain damage wouldn't be as difficult to overcome.

I encourage those of you who would like to learn more about population control, and the objective approach to figuring out how we can value human life AND live sustainably, to check out this website: http://www.pop.org/