Re: population vs. technology/consumption

Mr Austin,
        You might have a slightly different perspective if you were an
African American woman in the south (or a woman of any color, anywhere) 
who was either pregnant or lactating for most of her life.
        Judi Kessler
        UC San Diego
> 
> Just to clarify, there is a big difference between individuals choosing
> the size of their families or even deciding whether to have families, on
> the one hand, and advocating population control, on the other hand. I am
> in favor of voluntary contraception, sterilization, and abortion. These
> are individual freedoms that should be secured. I do not however favor
> programs and projects that seek to encourage people to use contraception,
> be sterilized, or have abortions. Furthermore practices that in effect
> amount to a program of population reduction should be uncovered and
> eliminated (in my view such practices ought to be criminalized). There are
> ways of providing people with information about birth control without
> encouraging them to use the technology. By the same token, I do not
> support measures which encourage people not to use contraception,
> sterilization, or abortion. But we must inform people about possible
> eugenic policies or effects. For example, African American women living in
> the southern United States should be concerned that their rate of surgical
> sterilization is 3-4 times higher than it is for whites. We ought to all
> be concerned about that. There is huge difference between population
> control and birth control. 
> 
> Andrew Austin
> Knoxville, TN
> 
> 
> 
>