Myth Buster Monday: There’s a “population explosion!”

The notion that the world is being overrun by people has been around for a long time.  “We can’t produce enough food to feed the masses.”  “The world will become so crowded it will become a living hell.”  Perhaps its most famous proponent is Reverend Thomas Malthus who stated:  “The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man.” The neo-Malthusians are alive and well today, but are they right?

“Never before in human history have global fertility levels dropped so much, so fast,” states a recent UN Secretary-General report.   World fertility has declined over 50 percent in 50 years.  Recently, the U.S. also dropped below the replacement fertility level – that rate being 2.1 children per couple.  Today, 30 developing countries, representing 40 percent of the population of the developing world, also have below-replacement fertility. (UN Secretary-General Report)

This has not stopped the population control folks from continuing their mantra of “too many people!”  They cite population momentum – population growth continues for a time after fertility drops – as a reason to continue “family planning” programs in the developing world.  The UN’s medium variant indicates that around 2045, world population will top out at 8.75 billion.  UN demographers acknowledge that the population will then stabilize for a time and then begin to decrease.

Here are some statistics on population and whether the world has too many people:

• By about 2020, for the first time, the global fertility rate will dip below the global replacement rate of 2.1.
• About 44% of the world population lives in nations with sub-replacement fertility.
• At a fertility rate of 1.4, a country will lose one-third of its population in a generation (a generation = 26 years).
• Approximately 17 European countries currently have fertility rates of 1.4 or below.
• All European countries (except Turkey) have below replacement level fertility rates with an average European fertility rate of 1.5.
• The number of people in the world is closing in on 7 billion.  The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN estimates the earth can easily support 8 to 12 billion using existing agricultural technology.  Joe Woodard, “Rome’s Other Ghosts:  Population Control at the Food Summit,”  PRI Review , (January/February 1997):  9.

“Rapid population growth originally commenced not because human beings suddenly started breeding like rabbits but rather because they finally stopped dying like flies.” – Nicholas Eberstadt

Statistics on Population and Prosperity: Is There an Effect?
Country	Population per square km	Pop. per sq. km arable land	Income per capita	Life exp.
Bangladesh	1218	2,215	$1,700	70
China	140	931	$7,400	74
Denmark	128	247	$36,700	78
Germany	228	691	$35,900	80
India	362	754	$3,400	67
Israel	360	2,398	$29,500	81
Japan	335	2,789	$34,200	82
Mexico	58	445	$13,800	76
Switzerland	185	1,850	$42,900	81
Taiwan	641	2,672	$35,800	78
United Kingdom	257	1,120	$35,100	80
United States	32	178	$47,400	78

The CIA World Factbook (2010)   

Marriage and Traditional Families the Target of Aggressive Activists

The last few weeks have seen United Families staff extremely busy.  The UN Third Committee Meetings in New York always generate lots of resolutions that need to be monitored and language inserted or modified in order to protect family and the sanctity of life.  We appreciate the efforts of all the members of the pro-life, pro-family coalition during this hectic time.

Last week, United Families International was invited to submit written testimony to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women or CEDAW.   It was a great opportunity to get information out on this deceptive and dangerous treaty.  We’re happy to report that the actual Senate Judiciary hearing on CEDAW was, as suspected, little more than an opportunity for liberals to posture in an attempt to appease their radical feminist constituents.  We are very hopeful that CEDAW will not progress beyond this hearing. We’ll keep you updated if ratification of CEDAW begins to get traction.  To learn more about the dangers of CEDAW and review UFI’s written testimony, click here.

The challenge to California’s Prop 8…the state’s amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman… will go before the Ninth Circuit on Monday, December 6.  The three judges who will be hearing the case are Stephen R. Reinhardt, Michael D. Hawkins, and Randy Smith.  Judge Reinhardt is arguably the most liberal judge on the ultra-liberal Ninth Circuit Court.  Reinhardt also holds the dubious distinction of being the most over-turned judge in the U.S.  Judge Hawkins claims to be a “moderate” but his rulings show him to definitely lean left.   Judge Smith is considered to be a “constitutionalist” and perhaps the only hope for Prop 8.  It is widely believed, however, that in a 2-1 decision, Prop 8 will be overturned by this court on a technicality…the issue of “standing.”  Either way, the case will most certainly be appealed and move towards the U.S. Supreme Court.  You can view the two-hour Prop 8 hearing on C-SPAN next Monday, beginning at 1 p.m. EST.

In another development regarding the assault on man/woman marriage: With little fanfare and with surprising little notice by the pro-family world, the European Parliament (EP) just moved all of the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) closer to legalized same-sex marriage.  Last week, the EP assembly adopted the “Report on civil laws, commercial law, family law and private international law aspects of the Action Plan Implementing the Stockholm Program.”  That’s a long title for a report, but its purpose is to compel EU countries to both recognize and legally uphold the “effects of civil status documents” of another EU-state.

The intent of such a law is to create an efficient operation of government in regard to cross-border issues…if you have a civil contract in one EU country that contract is recognized in every other EU country.  Sounds reasonable, but European Dignity Watch warns it will bring same-sex marriage in through the back door and severely compromise EU member states’ sovereignty and violates the principle of subsidiarity.

“Paragraph 40 [of the report] wants to give civil documents, including marriage, to be given de facto legal effect throughout the EU by requiring Member States to grant “all social benefits and other legal effects attached to it”. This could mean that Member States would be forced to indirectly recognize same-sex unions as equal to marriage even if such recognition does not exist in the respective country’s legal system,” stated European Dignity Watch in a plea to their members to contact their MEP’s to urge them to amend paragraph 40 to protect man/woman marriage.

Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Norway, the Netherlands, and Sweden have legalized same-sex marriage and civil unions are in place in about 10 other EU countries. The adoption of this report now allows the European Commission to propose ways to enable mutual recognition of all civil partnership and marriages throughout the EU.  All countries will now be required to recognize existing marriages and civil partnerships when citizens travel or move in the EU or face discrimination charges grounded in the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights (Article 21).

The result:  homosexual couples will travel to an EU country where same-sex marriage is legal, be married and return to their home country.  Their home country will then be forced to fully recognize the marriage…de facto establishment of same-sex marriage.

Conclusion

This has definitely been a few weeks of good news/not so good news.

Not so good news:  The countries of the EU and all of Europe are paying the price for the centralization of government…in this case the European Union.  Europe’s experience is also a case study on how gay advocacy is rolled out:

- mainstream homosexual behavior
- implement hate crimes laws and add “sexual orientation” as a protected class to every policy initiative (both private and public sector)
- put in place domestic partner benefits which eventually give impetus to a cry for same-sex civil unions
- the final step is not far behind”"the legalization of same-sex marriage”"which is then forced upon resistant states against their will
United Families International has been at the forefront of warning citizens and fighting gay advocacy in the U.S. and internationally.  We won’t give up and you shouldn’t either!

Good news:  On the UN front, UFI has been successful in helping to keep the pro-abortion advocates and anti-family folks from inflicting damage via UN resolutions.  Last month we made you aware of our efforts to stop the outrageous Special Rapporteur’s Report on Education which claimed that there is a “Right to Comprehensive Sex Education.”  There was discussion that this document could resurface in December.  As of yet, nothing; but we’ll keep you up-dated.   The UN treaty, CEDAW, hopefully has been put back in the ratification dust-bin where it has been for the last 30+ years.

We at United Families International are grateful for the opportunity to work for you representing traditional values and family issues.  We take that responsibility very seriously and welcome any and all feedback as to how we can do our job better.  As the year winds down and you are considering end-of-year donations, we ask that you keep United Families International in mind.  Our people are dedicated, but it takes money to provide you with our regular policy and educational materials, to maintain a presence for our UN efforts, to impact policy and push forward grassroots’ successes.  We are committed to you and to using our funds wisely”"every dollar makes a difference.

Sincerely,
Mike Duff
President, United Families International

---

Overpopulation is a Myth

Our friends at Population Resource Institute (PRI) have produced a series of YouTube videos that eloquently and simply explain some of the myths surrounding demographics and overpopulation.  They’re short and fun to watch.  Take just a couple of minutes to enjoy and learn.

Polish Ad Promotes Abortion Tourism in Britain

A new ad by Polish pro-abortion group SROM has come under harsh criticism by British MPs for promoting abortion tourism to the UK.

The ad features a young girl in white lingerie with the words “My choice” written on her stomach. The rest of the ad reads like a Mastercard commercial:

“Plane ticket to England – 300 zloty.

Accommodation – 240 zloty.

Abortion in a public clinic – 0 zloty.

Relief after a procedure carried out in decent conditions – priceless.

For everything, you pay less than an underground abortion in Poland.”

SROM is attempting to educate women on how to bypass Polish abortion law, currently the strongest in the EU, in order to obtain “safe” abortions. Unfortunately, Britain isn’t too pleased with their solution.

“When the Abortion Act was liberalised I said it would turn Britain into the abortion capital of Europe and that seems to be exactly what’s happened,” MP Anne Widdecombe told a UK newspaper. Other MPs expressed similar concern over the advertisement and the implications for the British health care system.

Whether the ad is even providing women with “correct” advice is up for debate. The British Department of Health claims that it would be very difficult for a non-resident to receive an abortion unless an emergency. A women from Poland would be required to have a formal referral from a doctor in order to have the procedure. Something unlikely to happen, claims the Department of Health.

However, according to a 2008 report from the Polish Federation for Women and Family Planning 10,000 polish women received abortion in the UK in 2007, costing British National Health Services €5.5 – €11 million.

British Prime Minister Promises to Push Same-Sex Civil Unions Across EU

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced in an interview with homosexual magazine Attitude Wednesday that he will push for same-sex civil unions to be recognized in all EU countries, particularly in Eastern Europe.

“I’m fighting to get all the countries in Europe to recognize civil partnerships carried out in Britain,” he said.

“We want countries where that hasn’t been the case – especially in eastern Europe – to recognize them.”

EU countries France, Germany and Austria, come January 1, already have civil partnership laws, while same-sex marriage is legal in Belgium, Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands. Brown’s task may be more difficult in eastern European countries; they still defend traditional views of marriage and the family and have been largely resistant to advancements of the LGBT agenda.

“Of course it will be tough,” Brown said, “and will take many years, but that has never ever been a good reason not to fight.”

This just means that those who understand the importance of traditional families and marriage will have to work even harder to protect marriage.

European Court to Rule on Ireland’s Abortion Law

Next week the European Court of Human Rights will begin hearing a case that will decide whether Ireland’s ban on abortion violates a woman’s human rights.

The case is taken by three Irish women who claim their health was put in danger by being forced to travel abroad in order to obtain an abortion, thus violating their human rights.

The European Court of 17 judges will determine whether or not Ireland’s current laws on abortion, which outlaw abortion except in cases of substantial risk to the mother’s life, violate the European Convention on Human Rights. The article in question states that everyone has the “right to respect for private and family life” without interference from the government.

When Ireland became a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights, the convention was incorporated into Irish law and the country became subject to the judgments of the Court, which rules on human rights issues in the 47 member states of the Council of Europe.

According to John Smeaton, head of the British pro-life group SPUC Pro-Life, the case essentially puts the Irish constitution on trial as whatever verdict is reached will be legally binding on the country.

The case could be the European equivalent of Roe v. Wade. “If it is successful, countries throughout Europe and the rest of the world will be affected,” Smeaton said. “The effect could be similar to the Roe v Wade judgment in America, which struck down all restrictive laws on abortion in the United States by recognizing a right to abortion.”

Council of Europe Resolution Will Regulate Right to Conscientious Objection

The Council of Europe is currently debating a new draft resolution that would make a women’s right to abortion legally superior to a doctor or health care provider’s conscientious or religious objection to such procedures. The new resolution, entitled “”Women’s access to lawful medical care: the problem of unregulated use of conscientious objection,” would regulate the freedom of doctors and health care providers to refuse to provide abortion, emergency contraception and other anti-life procedures due to conscientious objections.

According to LifeSiteNews.com, the resolution has two main objectives:

“[T]he first – to push for further access to abortion as a “Human Right” – the second: to limit the possibility for individual health care providers and institutions “to refuse to provide certain health services based on religious, moral or philosophical objections.”

The document states:

“While recognising the right of an individual to conscientiously object to performing a certain medical procedure, the Parliamentary Assembly is deeply concerned about the increasing and largely unregulated occurrence of this practice, especially in the field of reproductive health care.

“The Parliamentary Assembly emphasizes the need to balance the right of conscientious objection with the responsibility of the profession and the right of each patient to receive lawful treatment and expresses its concern about the severe consequences that the occurrence of this practice has on women’s access to lawful health care services.”

The resolution is a drastic step in the development of the abortion debate. Under the resolution, not only must abortion be legal, but health care providers are legally required to provide such services. This goes well beyond the typical arguments in support of abortion and places a women’s right to abortion above a health care provider’s religious liberty and right to the free exercise of his or her own skills and property.

Furthermore, the resolution specifically removes the right to “institutional objection,” stating that member states must “rule out the right of institutional conscientious objection, preventing public hospitals or clinics as a whole to invoke conscientious objection.” This means religious institutions, such as Catholic hospitals, will be forced to provide such services or they will be driven from the health care industry as a whole.

An international non-profit law firm, The European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), is currently preparing to oppose the resolution in support of conscience rights.

You can view a draft of the resolution here.

EU Forces British Government to Remove Church Exemptions from Employing Homosexuals

According to a recent report from The Guardian, the European Union is forcing the British government to remove legal protections that allow religious groups and organizations to refuse to employ homosexuals.

Apparently the European Commission, the executive branch of the EU, sent a letter to the British government last week informing them that the current legal exemptions for religious organizations violate the EU directive against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

The letter was sent in response to a formal complaint from the National Secular Society, which argued that the exemptions created “illegal discrimination against homosexuals.” Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell was quoted saying, “It is a big embarrassment for the British government, which has consistently sought to appease religious homophobes by granting them opt-outs from key equality laws. The European commission has ruled these opt-outs are excessive.”

The exemptions currently apply to the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations of 2003, under which religious groups are allowed to refuse to employ a homosexual employee “so as to avoid conflicting with the strongly held religious convictions of a significant number of the religion’s followers.”

However, the letter from the EU leaves the British government no choice but to amend its current discrimination legislation. As Archbishop Cranmer puts it, “Her Majesty’s Government is forced to amend a sovereign Act of Parliament in order that it might conform to a higher-sovereign EU directive.

Vladimir Špidla, the EU’s equal opportunities commissioner, has called on the government to make the requisite changes as soon as possible.

New Report Says the State of the European Family is “A Desolate Panorama”

The European Institute for Family Policies (IFP) released the 2009 Report on the Evolution of the Family in Europe last week and it arrived bearing bad news—bad news UFI and other pro-family organizations have been warning against for years.

According to the report presented to the European Parliament on November 11, the situation of the European family is “a desolate panorama.”

“Europe is plunged in an unprecedented demographic winter and has become an elderly continent, with a large birth deficit, fewer marriages and more of them broken, homes emptying,” the report said.

“The aging population, critical birth-rate, escalating abortions, the collapse of marriage, the explosion in family breakups and the emptying of homes are the main problems of Europeans.”

Anyone interested in the state of the family in Europe and the impending demographic winter around the world should take a look at the report. It is clear, easy to understand, and highly enlightening on the enormous impact the anti-family agenda has had on the European population.

Most startling of all are the statistics on abortion. According to the report, one in every five (19%), pregnancies end in abortion in the EU and teenage girls represent one in seven of the more than 1,200,000 abortions every year. Since 1990, over 28 million abortions have been performed in the EU with over half of those occurring in France, Romania and the United Kingdom.

This combined with dropping birth rates, broken families and high-levels of immigration promises a radically different Europe in the very near future.

International News Headlines: January ’09 Edition

U.N. Treaty Might Weaken Families

One of the issues American families could face this year is the ramifications from a treaty called the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Why should passage of the CRC be of concern? It likely would have a negative impact on domestic law and practice in the United States. Article VI of our Constitution makes treaties—and remember, conventions are viewed as treaties—“the supreme law of the land.” The CRC would be treated as superior to laws in every state regarding the parent-child relationship. This would include issues regarding education, health care, family discipline, the child’s role in family decision-making, and a host of other subjects.

Two central principles of the CRC clearly are contrary to current U.S. laws related to parent-child relationships. The CRC provides that in all matters relating to children, whether private or public, or in courts, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration. Additionally, nations should ensure that children are capable of expressing their views freely in all matters affecting them, giving due weight to the age and maturity of the child.

This is contrary to traditional American law, which provides that absent proof of harm, courts and social workers simply do not have the authority to intervene in parent-child relationships and decision-making. The importance of this tradition and practice is that the government may not substitute its judgment for that of the parent until there is proof of harm to the child sufficient to justify governmental intervention. It is clear that in two very important areas of the parent-child relationship, religion and education, there will be potential for tremendous conflict.

EU Votes this Week to Push Same-Sex Civil Unions on all Member States

The European Parliament is set to vote this week on a resolution that will promote abortion and same-sex unions throughout the European Union. The resolution, authored by Giusto Catania, an Italian Communist MEP, calls upon EU member-states to guarantee access to “sexual and reproductive health and rights” and represents the next step in the work of European homosexualist activists.

Cameroon Tells Pro-Abortion UN Committee “Abortion is Murder”

The committee that monitors state compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) will begin a new session in Geneva next week, but even prior to the meeting six of the eight states who will be reviewed have already been questioned on abortion. In a stinging written response to the CEDAW committee’s advance questions, Cameroon fired back that “abortion is murder.”

In article 75, the resolution, which bases its arguments on the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, calls for Member States that have already recognized same-sex civil unions in law to also recognize similar unions contracted by homosexual couples in other Member States.

Mexican president warns breakdown in family values increases crime

The Sixth World Meeting of Families opened Jan. 14 with a warning from the Mexican president that a breakdown in family values is leading to increased social problems and crime.

“Many of those that die in confrontations are young people that are detached from a nuclear family, something that results in an absolute lack of values,” President Felipe Calderon told attendees while opening the five-day meeting.

Third “Window of Life” for Unwanted Babies Inaugurated in Poland

The “Window of Life of Blessed Edmund Bojanowski” was inaugurated in the city of Czestochowa during the Feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth last week, by Archbishop Stanislaw Nowak.

The “Window of Life” is a place where mothers who do not want to or cannot provide for their children, can anonymously and safely bring newborns in order for them to be cared for and placed for adoption.