We've already talked about the baby boom, and twice about the baby bust. The bottom line seems to be that women in more developed, more well-off countries, who have more options regarding family planning, have put off pregnancies until the world becomes saner, safer and more predictable. Women in less developed, less well-off countries have been cut off from family planning services and birth control, due to lockdowns and the general economic shutdown, and are getting pregnant in record numbers.
Now the BBC reports that in the Philippines, around 214,000 unplanned babies will be born next year. In the before, about one in three were unplanned. 2021? "It could be as high as probably half of the pregnancies next year unplanned."
The Catholic Church "is encouraging procreation with the verse: 'Be fruitful, and multiply'." And the mostly-Catholic citizens of the Philippines are strongly warned against abortion. In the words of Rovelie Zabala, a Phillippina who is pregnant with an unplanned and unwanted baby: "I continued [the pregnancy] rather than committing a sin."
Wherever we stand on abortion, we need to understand that, around the world, there will be millions of children born next year who were unplanned, are largely unwanted, and, for the most part, born into poverty, in countries that are trying to recover from the pandemic and are in no way ready for a spike in the birth rate.
We better off, wealthier folks in developed countries really need to decide how we'll respond to this. This is a world where there's enough for everyone to be safe, and healthy, and have prospects for the future. How do we make that happen?
No comments:
Post a Comment