Talene Tse

Engelman, Robert. 2013. “Our Overcrowded Planet: A Failure of Family Planning.” Yale E360. Retrieved January 22, 2018 (http://e360.yale.edu/features/our_overcrowded_planet_a_failure_of_family_planning).

1. Before reading the article, I knew that women in developing countries have limited access to sex education and contraceptives.
2. I learned that the population is estimated to reach 10 billion by 2100. Further, fertility rates in many developing countries are accelerating. Women are having more children than they once were, and the populations in some of those countries are expected to double by 2100. The U.N. has focused little energy and resources on sex education and access to contraceptives in these nations even though it would significantly reduce the rapid population growth as 2 out of 5 pregnancies are unwanted. In the Philippines, the Catholic church even barred a national initiative to make contraceptives widely available to women.
3. It is unlikely that with our current technology the world will be able to support its growing population with the same quality of life and life expectancy that we now enjoy. Especially in developing nations where population and fertility are growing rapidly, the availability of clean water and other natural resources are limited and poorly regulated. It is possible that we will develop new technologies that allow us to support this population. However, it is more likely that life expectancies and quality of life as well as environmental stability will suffer due to rapid population growth. By spending about 8 billion a year, contraceptives could be widely available in many nations limiting rapid, often unwanted, population growth. However, it is a sensitive, and often personal and religious, topic, so few politicians and world leaders are willing to bring up world wide availability on contraceptives and sex educations as means of population control and fundamental rights for women.
4. I find it nauseating that male world and religious have the ability to decide whether the women of the world have access to contraceptives and fundamental education.