India Offers Gun Licenses for Vasectomies
Too few vasectomies were being performed in Madhya Pradesh, India, for one population control official’s liking. So Shivpuri District Head, Manish Shrivastava, decided to up the ante. He promised men that, if they underwent sterilization, they would receive a gun license. The application form for a gun license was made available at the sterilization camps.
The prospect of a owning a gun, in this robber-infested region of India, proved to have strong appeal. More than 250 men put themselves under the knife in 2008.
There was only one problem. In the months since, no gun licenses have been forthcoming. The men who were vasectomized grumble that they have been tricked. The official in charge maintains that the men will eventually get their arms licenses.
In the meantime, the sterilization camps stand empty.
In years of researching population control programs, we have heard of all kinds of threats and promises being used to induce men and women to come in for sterilization. But the offer of gun licenses is a new one on us. If the men who have been cut finally do get permission to buy a gun—that is, if the whole thing has not been just one more population control fraud—we suggest that the official in charge might want to request a transfer to a district far, far away— effective yesterday.
See the Source: P. Naveen, “Vasectomy for gun license deal sours,” Hindustan Times, 18 February 2009
China Raises Fines for Violating One-Child Policy
The Chinese government has announced it will once again be raising fines levied against families who violate the one-child policy. As incomes go up in China, the fines seem to be rising even faster.
The government claims that it needs to rein in a quickly rising population but, 30 years after the start of the one-child policy, China’s population is rapidly leveling off Still, the government official in charge of the policy says that it will be necessary to continue the policy for at least another 20 years.
This step-up in pressure coincides with reports of increased numbers of forced abortions being performed in places like the Guangdong province, in the South.
Obama’s indication that he wants to refund the U.N. Population Fund, which is heavily involved in China’s one-child policy, may be a further encouragement to the Beijing regime to tighten the screws.
Most Aussie Babies Aborted for Convenience
Bad timing is the most common reason for women seeking abortions at Royal Women’s Hospital, in the Australian state of Victoria, the first report on women using its pregnancy advisory service has found. An analysis of 3018 women seeking terminations between October 2006 and September 2007 showed 1026, or 34 percent, listed their primary reason as “does not want children now” or “not the right time”.
Another 547, or 18 percent, said they already had enough children, 263, or 9 percent, said they were caring for a young baby, and 339, or 11 percent, said they were too young. Financial, relationship or medical reasons together accounted for 19 percent of cases, and rape for 1 percent.
See the Source: Australia Prayer Network, “Most Babies Aborted for Convenience,” Christian Today Australia, 12 February 2009, http://au.christiantoday.com/article/most-babies-aborted/for-convenience/5419.htm
Nutty British Official
The British population, now 61m, will pass 70m by 2028, the Office for National Statistics says. The fertility rate for women born outside Britain is estimated to be 2.5, compared with 1.7 for those born here. The global population of 6.7 billion is expected to rise to 9.2 billion by 2050.
Porritt, who has two children, intends to persuade environmental pressure groups to make population a focus of campaigning. “Many organizations think it is not part of their business. My mission with the Friends of the Earth and the Green-peaces of this world is to say: ‘You are betraying the interests of your members by refusing to address population issues and you are doing it for the wrong reasons because you think it is too controversial, “he said.
Porritt, a former chairman of the Green party, says the government must improve family planning, even it means shifting money from curing illness to increasing contraception and abortion.
He said: “We still have one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancies in Europe and we still have relatively high levels of-pregnancies going to birth, often among women who are not convinced they want to become mothers.”
