Mexico: Family Planning Gains

The century ends with more than 6 billion humans on Earth, an increase of 4.5 billion in less than 100 years. And the fastest growth has taken place in developing countries, which have fewer resources to feed, clothe and educate these greater numbers.

Today, however, encouraging news is coming from some of the nations of Latin America, Asia and Africa that have the highest birthrates: The rate of increase is falling drastically. The reasons are complex, but begin with women’s education, which many population experts see as the single biggest factor.

The partnerships forged between local institutions and U.S.-based nongovernmental agencies have also helped created success stories in family planning.

Consider Mexico, where a demographic revolution has occurred. In 1965, Mexican women gave birth to 7.2 children, on average. For 1999 the average is 2.5, and Mexico has 99 million people instead of the 142 million it faced at the 1965 rate. The programs that foster these changes were designed by Mexican agencies like the National Population Council and the nonprofit Mexican Foundation for Family Planning, or Mexfam, an affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, along with smaller groups.

The birth control programs they have put in place rely on access to both information and contraceptives. Media campaigns urge delay of marriage and pregnancy and emphasize the advantages of spacing the births of one’s children. Vasectomy or tubal ligation is available to those who ask for it. Today, 70% of women of childbearing age, 15 to 49, have access to contraception.

All of this has happened in a nation where the overwhelming majority is Roman Catholic, but both the church and family planning agencies have worked hard to keep antagonism to a minimum. The ads, for instance, list the advantages of a small family without direct mention of contraceptives. Sex education has even come, without serious opposition, to Mexico’s public elementary schools.

The success of agencies like Mexfam depends on their financial support. Some funding comes from fees paid by the users of its medical and educational services, but most of it comes from Mexican and U.S. government agencies, companies and other institutions.

For the last 25 years, the United States has assisted Mexico’s family planning programs generously. But the expiration of a bilateral agreement this year cut off the flow. The climate is poor for any new agreement because of a handful of members of Congress who vehemently oppose not just abortion but even certain contraception methods.

The United States has a big stake in the economic and social health of Mexico. Denying help to agencies that provide proven family planning information and assistance is a sure way to curb progress.