Making Population Connections in Our Crowded, Hectic World
We don’t talk about population issues to a classroom of fifth-graders the same way we would at a retirement community—although our core population stabilization message is always there. Closing gaps between what we intend to say and what others may hear requires an understanding of what others bring to the table. It’s still common to […]
Don’t Let the “COVID-19 Baby Bust” Alarm You
Apparently, there’s a “COVID-19 Baby Bust” happening in the United States, and it’s dooming our country to economic challenges for years to come. Or at least that’s what some economists would have us believe. In the past week, news outlets from CBS to The New York Times to the Wall Street Journal have covered this […]
President of Turimiquire Foundation Confirms the Difficult State of Family Planning in Venezuela
Population Connection member and friend Steven Bloomstein wrote the following letter to the editor of The New York Times, in response to its Feb. 20, 2021, article “Venezuelan Women Lose Access to Contraception, and Control of Their Lives.” It wasn’t picked up for publication, so we’re sharing it here! As a U.S. citizen who has […]
International Women’s Day—Looking Toward Gender Equity
Today is International Women’s Day. It’s also the day my late grandmother would have turned 111. I always thought it was fitting that she shared her special day with the day meant to celebrate and lift up all women because she was one of the toughest old ladies I’ve ever met (she was 70 when […]
Egyptian Religious Leaders Introduce “Birth Control Is Permissible” Campaign
Many Egyptians believe that Islam and the Qur’an prohibit the use of contraception; Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi hopes to dispel the myth that Egyptian Islamic leaders forbid it. According to Dar al-Ifta, Egypt’s fatwa[1]-issuing institution, “it is permissible to use anything that does not lead to killing the embryo after its formation—in any stage of […]
Human Population Surges While Silence Haunts the Natural World
Scrolling the Internet, I came across the haunting sounds of a bird call. It stopped me cold. Recorded in 1987, it was the song of the male Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, a Hawaiian bird species. He paused his singing – waiting for a female to respond. That never happened. It seems he was the last of the […]
Reproductive Health Nightmare for Venezuelan Women
A shocking front page story in the February 21, 2021 edition of The New York Times, “Venezuelan Women Lose Access to Contraception, and Control of Their Lives” documents the devastating situation facing women in Venezuela. According to that report, “Millions of women are no longer able to find or afford birth control, pushing many into […]
A Scientist’s Silly Musings on the Serious Subject of Population Growth
Deep knowledge and professional acumen in one area does not confer expertise in all subjects. The false alarm sounded about ostensible population decline in a recent Irish Times commentary entitled Reducing World Population May Be a Bad Idea by Dr. William Reville, Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry at Ireland’s University College Cork, is an excruciating case […]
Global Gag Rule Gone for Now; Congress Must End It for Good
Like literally millions (and probably billions) of people around the world, I breathed an enormous sigh of relief at the inauguration of President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. The perpetual nightmare that was Donald Trump’s administration is over—and may we never see its like again. But much of the harm wrought by his malevolent […]
21 Reasons We Need Population Stabilization in 2021
2020—the most abysmal year in recent memory—has finally come to an end. Now that we’re onto a new year with a new presidential administration, a new Congress, and a new COVID-19 vaccine, we can set our sights on brighter days (although this week’s sedition attempt was certainly a rough start to what was meant to […]
