India welcomes Baby One Billion
On May 11, 2000, the Indian census commission announced that the population of India had officially reached 1 billion. (The United Nations put the date sometime last August). India is currently second only to China in population numbers and is expected to top China by the middle of the century.
India’s Baby One Billion arrived to a country that is better off than ever before. (See “Global Monitor,” PRI Review, August/September 1999). But while the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi was celebrating the birth of Astha Arora, the little girl considered to be the billionth Indian, many were mourning her arrival. The Pioneer Newpaper said of the milestone that there are now “a billion reasons not to smile.” The health minister regards the situation as “grim.” He stressed the need for the Indian people to act “responsibly” before things get “beyond control.” Despite reaching this record number, the fertility rate in India has been slowing down. In 1947, the first year of independence, the fertility rate was over six births per woman. It has since been cut nearly in half to 3.5. Interestingly, food production has tripled in this same period.
Other baby girls in India have not fared as well as little Astha. The Wall Street Journal reported recently that female infanticide remains a large problem in this country where sons are still preferred to daughters. The practice of sex selective abortion is so common that the government in 1996 banned the use of ultrasound to determine the sex of the child. Estimates of the number of females aborted each year number between three and five million. In poorer areas without access to ultrasound, baby girls are often murdered after birth. Oftentimes the parents will offer the attending midwife extra money or rice to kill the child immediately after delivery if it is a girl.
The birth of India’s six billionth citizen may help stave off the looming specter of depopulation a while longer, but as birthrates fall worldwide, depopulation remains an inevitability.
(“India Hits the Billion Mark,” BBC News, 11 May 2000; “Among Poor Villagers, Female Infanticide Still Flourishes in India,” Miriam Jordan, The Wall Street Journal, 9 May 2000)
Kevorkian Kruises?
A pro-abortion group in the Netherlands called Women on Waves Foundation has announced a new way to circumvent restrictive abortion laws in countries around the world. The group proposes to send a ship to countries where abortion is illegal to perform the procedure 12 miles offshore in international waters, The ship, which will be called Sea Change, will stay in the coastal waters of each country for up to six months, taking women aboard, and sailing out to sea so that abortions can be performed without legal repercussions. Besides performing first trimester abortions, the staff onboard Sea Change will provide information on contraception and sexually transmitted diseases, advocate for the legalization of abortion, and train local medical personnel in the use of manual vacuum aspirators to perform abortions.
The government of the tiny island nation of Malta has voiced its opposition to Sea Change. Social Policy Minister Lawrence Gonzi called the plan “horrendous,” adding that those who help arrange or assist with this venture will be prosecuted. Abortion is illegal in Malta, and all political parties are committed to continuing legal protection for the unborn.
Coming on the heels of Sea Change, Australian euthanasia activist Philip Nitschke announced a similar plan to kill individuals seeking euthanasia on a boat in international waters. PRI would like to suggest that these be called Kevorkian Kruises.
(“Pro-Abortion Group Offers Abortions by Boat,” Pro-Life Infonet, 27 May 2000; http://www.womenonwaves.org; “Offshore Killing: Euthanasia Boat in the Wake of Abortion,” Lifesitecom, 31 May 2000)
No More Russians?
People who persist in the belief that the world is overpopulated should take a close look at Russia. The Russian State Statistics Committee recently issued a report stating that the death rate in Russia is twice as high as the birth rate. This dramatic difference means that the Russian population diminishes by 2,500 people every day.
Predictions on the future of Russia’s population are grim, The most optimistic believe that by 2050 the population of 147 million will decrease to 116 million. But that would require a stabilization of the birth and death rates — hardly a likely scenario. Dr. Murray Feshback, author of Environmental and Health Atlas of Russia, believes that Russia’s population will more likely shrink to between 80 and 100 million in 2050.
In addition to a decrease in immigration and a rise in life-threatening diseases such as tuberculosis and AIDS, the high abortion rate has contributed to the decrease in population. Since 1994, 70 percent of all pregnancies have been aborted.
(“Running out of Russians,” Peter Zeihan, ABCNews.com, 18 May 2000)
