Many major news sources focused on Danica May Camacho, a 5.5 pound baby girl born in the Philippines, as the symbolic birth of the world's seven billionth person. It is not certain who the actual seven billionth person is, but United Nations officials were on hand at Danica's birth to present her and her family gifts to mark the occasion. Of course, for those who are familiar with the UN's programs designed to reduce the number of children in the developing world, the specter of UN officials on hand to "welcome" a young Filipina really is enough to send shivers up your spine.
News reports quoted Dr. Eric Tayag of the Department of Health in the Philippines as saying that Danica's birth came with a warning: "Seven billion is a number we should think about deeply," he said. "We should really focus on the question of whether there will be food, clean water, shelter, education and a decent life for every child. If the answer is 'no,' it would be better for people to look at easing this population explosion."
"Easing this population explosion." That's an interesting way of putting it, especially since fertility rates in the Philippines and in much of the world have already fallen so dramatically over the last few decades. Rather than focusing on creating stable, efficient governments that foster economic development and the responsible production of resources, there are many who would rather focus on preventing children from entering the world. Indeed, if the Reproductive Health Bill that Philippine President Aquino is supporting passes, taxpayer money will be used to fund programs pushing contraceptives and abortificacients on Filipinos to destroy the next generation, instead of funding services to improve the lives of the current and future generations.
Even while warning of the "challenges that a growing population poses" in a statement about the "Day of 7 Billion," the UN issued a report that points out the decline of many countries' populations around the world.
The report, published by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), known for promoting contraception and abortion around the world, said, "With the declines in fertility in most of the world, the global growth rate of population has been decreasing since its peak of 2.0 per cent in 1965-1970." The UNFPA also points out that in "developed countries, the average fertility rate is about 1.7 births-below the replacement level of 2.1 births."
There are solutions to the problems of economic development around the world, but purposefully preventing human life is not one of them. Especially in nations where children are the "social security" for their parents as they age, to eliminate children is to put the parents' own future at risk.
