Long, Pier-Luc

Professor Jeanette Novakovich

ENGL 213/2 B
October 18, 2010
Birth Control and Abortion: Solutions to Overpopulation

The population of our planet is increasing and decreasing every minute of every day.

Birth is a natural process of life and so is death. But lately scientists have observed that the

Earth’s population would increase so much in the next 40 years that the resources found on our

planet will be insufficient. Scientists have predicted that there would be an increase of more than

1.33% of the population, which means that our current 6.8 billion people will increase to 9.2

billion people. (Marchal 04) We have already noticed changes in our planet, may it be health-

related, environmental, or political. It is time to think of the future of this planet and take actions

to ensure its safety. Environmentalists have already been putting efforts in stopping global

warming and other environmental events. The overpopulation of our planet has a direct effect on

the deterioration of our main resources and the impact of global warming. It is now fundamental

to find solutions to the infinite population growth if we want to avoid future catastrophic

outcomes.

A solution that should be proposed to make overpopulation a smaller problem is the

legalization of birth control and abortion for unintended pregnancies. Although it is available in

many countries, the fact that it isn’t legal in some and that it’s such a taboo to speak of those

subjects is not helping the balance of population that our planet should have. In “Reproductive

Rights Go Green,” Joni Baird states that the “NRLC (National Right to Life Committee)

supporters see no connection between overpopulation and global warming.” (19) She also

explains that many organisations and individuals do not believe the scientific evidence which has
been provided for many years now and shows that “development and implementation of green

technologies aren’t enough.” (Baird 18) Baird explains that, according to reports from Population

Action International, “more than 200 million women in the developing world are denied birth

control” which leads to many hundreds of thousands of deaths related to pregnancy, an increase

in orphans, and many abortions. (19) If birth control was legalized, such amounts would be

decreased and unintended births would not happen. Making a step like this will make a big

change in the population number but it is not the only effort that has to be made.

In “La grève du ventre pour sauver la planète,” Mathias Marchal states that “the expected

increase in population will be unsustainable for the resources of the planet (water, petroleum,

agricultural production...).” (04) It is obvious that the resources of our planet, if no change is

made in our consuming habits, will still be completely wasted. Not only is it time for us to make

changes in the overpopulation, we also have to think of environmental approaches to help

decrease global warming and the chances of environmental catastrophes. Marchal explains that

the UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund), a worldwide authority in life and death of

population, has released a report, the State of World Population 2009, in which they state:

“Preventing unintended pregnancies could contribute to population stabilization in the long run

and may in turn contribute to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the future.” (Marchal

04) Why is there a need to debate the subject when it is made obvious by thousands of scientists

that overpopulation will lead to disastrous events?

A point that Baird makes in her article is that many citizens will rather believe in religion

than scientific evidence. Many religions are against abortions and state that it is inhuman to

terminate life in such ways. Baird also states that “malnutrition, starvation, poverty, lack of

medical and educational services, pollution of the environment, Underdevelopment, conflict, and
war are already and will continue to be aggravated by-excessive numbers of people.” (21) They

often compare legalization of abortion and birth control to the Holocaust and to other genocides.

(Baird 20) Science and religion have been in perpetual arguments as long as they have co-existed

but it’s time to correct the errors that have been made in the past and put a stop to overpopulation

before it destroys us.

Other solutions could be thought of but most of them would be more abrupt, like having a

maximum for the number of children one can have or stop births all together. Some countries

like China already have birth regulations that only allow you to have a certain number of

children. Such measures could be taken worldwide to decrease overpopulation. Another solution

that has been proposed is to have settlements on other planets but that solution cannot be

validated unless we find a planet that has similar resources as Earth.

At some point, it is necessary to make changes in our environmental and birthing habits.

If the necessary measures were made to allow legalization of birth control and even abortion

worldwide, a big part of our problem would be solved. These precautions would allow our

planet’s resources not to be wasted on unintended pregnancies and births. Overpopulation and its

effect on global warming is believed by scientists and most people, just not the very religious,

but a choice has to be made to go for religion and live with the engendered disasters or to go

against religion and make changes for our planet. The choice is ours to make, as citizens of this

planet, and we have to make it before it’s too late.

 Works Cited

Baird, Joni. “Reproductive Rights Go Green.” The Humanist 69.5 (2009): 18-22. Academic
Search Complete (EBSCO). Web. 18 Oct. 2010.
Marchal, Mathias. "La grève du ventre pour sauver la planète." Métro Montréal 10 13 2010: 04.
Print.