Another Billion on the Way

Without birth-rate stabilization, populations will continue to outrun food supplies and economic advances, condemning millions to deteriorating incomes and marginal nutrition--if not starvation. This is the message of compelling new studies that underscore the critical importance of government-funded birth-control programs.

In the developing nations of the world, contraceptive programs are essential to population stabilization, according to a new analysis by the Population Crisis Committee. Global population could be stabilized at 9 billion, compared with 5.2 billion at the present time, if existing population programs in Asia, Africa and Latin America are tripled. That would be 4 billion to 5 billion fewer than if growth continues on its existing course.

In the United States, publicly funded family- planning services have proven remarkably cost-effective, according to another new study, this one by the Alan Guttmacher Institute. The report found that in 1987, federal and state programs cost $412 million and resulted in a saving of $1.8 billion in public funds that otherwise would have gone for medical and welfare costs. “These savings represent an average of $4.40 saved for every dollar spent to provide contraceptive services,” according to the study.

The timing of both reports is fortuitous. The report on the importance of contraceptives in global population control will serve to strengthen proposals for an enlarged role by the U.S. government in providing foreign aid for population-control activities. The program has been handicapped by imposition of regulations denying assistance through two of the most effective avenues, the United Nations Fund for Population Activities and the International Planned Parenthood Federation. The report on the efficacy of American programs to subsidize contraceptives for low-income families comes as the Senate takes up reauthorization of Title X of the Public Health Service Act. This legislation has, since 1970, funded access to basic health screening, comprehensive family planning (but not abortions), and referrals for millions of poor women.

A third study, by the United Nations, provides the ominous context in which population programs must be planned. The world’s population will increase by another billion in this decade. This year alone, 90 million people will be added. Only a rapid expansion of contraceptive distribution can accelerate population stabilization.