Economic growth for women has an important multiplier effect, which is why the World Bank calls investing in women .smart economics. Women tend to share their economic gains with their families and communities. One study concluded that investing in women's education and leadership in Africa can increase agricultural yields by more than 20%.

Women own only 1% of the world's wealth, have only a 10% share in global income, and occupy just 14% of leadership positions in the private and public sector. Women produce half of the world's food, but own a only 1% of its land.

ExxonMobil Foundation's Lorie Jackson said that "investment in women is not philanthropic, it's just smart business." Equipping women from all backgrounds with the education, skills and support systems necessary to be successful managers, business leaders and entrepreneurs is one of the most important means to ensuring economic growth in the developing world.

Evelyn Omawumi Urhobo of Nigeria's Morgan Smart Development Foundation her community bank gives loans to "rural poor women who did not have access to credit to start businesses that would enable them to lift themselves out of poverty. To date, the bank has given loans to over 15,000 people mostly poor women in the region." They have a 85% pay back rate on loans given to the women.

The Global Women in Management program is CEDPA's longest running training program, with thousands of graduate in almost every country worldwide.

Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani is wrong about population in his otherwise perceptive book, 'Imagining India.'

First he mentions Malthus, saying that "As a poor and extremely crowded part of the world, we seemed to vindicate Thomas Malthus's uniquely despondent vision - that greater population growth inevitably led to greater famine and despair, and Paul Erlich of his 1966 visit to Dehli: "People eating, people washing, people sleeping"..people visiting, arguing and screaming"..people clinging to buses"..people, people, people."

But then Nilekani goes on to say: "In the last two decades, this depressing vision of India's population as an "overwhelming burden" has been turned on its head. With growth, our human capital has emerged as a vibrant source of workers and consumers not just for India, but also for the global economy." India has realized a 'demographic dividend,' a phrase which came from David Bloom and Jeffrey Williamson who studied the economic success stories of some east Asian countries, in particular Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan They found that one of the reasons for the success which had hitherto been ignored was, paradoxically, population growth.

Child mortality dropped between 1950 and 2000, with the delayed result of lowered fertility. When people finally realised that fewer babies were dying, then they had fewer children. The 'gap' children formed a 'boom generation,' creating a large number of young enterprising workers, Bloom and Williamson claimed.

Nilekani transposes the east Asian example on India to explain India's economic success in the last two decades, particularly in the IT area.

Literacy (80%) and healthcare (life expectancy 0ver 75 years) were put in place in countries like Taiwan and South Korea - even Thailand and Indonesia to a lesser extent. India has seen no such massive investment in primary education or public health; its literacy rate is around 60%, and life expectancy is around 64. India also has one of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the developing world, outside sub-Saharan Africa.

India's population increase has largely been among the poorer and least educated sections of its people. Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, UP and Rajasthan account for 40% of the country's population and 50% of its population growth.

Pakistan, with a population growth rate higher than India, has seen no 'demographic dividend.'

Mr Nilekani needs to look elsewhere to explain India's economic and IT success since 1990. It is not in the population area.

Since its independence, India has grown from 350 million to 1.2 billion. Food production has more than tripled in the same period, thanks mainly to the 'Green Revolution.' Admittedly fertility rates have come down from over six children per woman to around three, there are still about 18 million additional people each year who have to be fed, educated and housed.

This has led to massive environmental damage, particularly deforestation and loss of wildlife. Exploding cities and growing violence can also be largely traced to our increasing numbers.   Karen Gaia says: the author fails to mention India's water, which it gets by overpumping aquifers, and from its northern neighbor, Nepal. The later supply will dry up when glaciers diminish from global warming.

household incomes. This would worsen the condition of women already struggling against an 'entrenched patriarchy'.

Despite making commitments to gender equity, many countries lack the funding to implement policies and legislation. As aid dries up, programmes focused on women are likely to decline. At a domestic level many households will prioritise the education and welfare of sons over daughters, with long-term consequences for overall development. Investment in women's livelihoods should be 'a central focus of governments' economic recovery policies.

In 2007-2008, many African countries enjoyed relative economic growth and increased investor confidence like never before. However at the end of 2007, the world experienced an increase in commodity prices like fuel and food, followed by the global financial crisis. Now commodity prices have dropped, with negative effects on export earnings, fiscal revenues, and household incomes.

Some claim that the statistics are evidence that Labour's policies on teenage pregnancy had failed. The Tories plan to introduce policies advocating more targeted use of long-acting contraceptive injections for teenagers who had already had an abortion.

64,715 repeat abortions were carried out across all age groups last year - the highest level on record and a rise of 22% in a decade. 46 women had aborted at least eight pregnancies.

The new figures showed a 16% rise in terminations after at least 26 weeks.

The rates of abortions for teenagers as a whole had fallen by 4.5% in the past year, according to Government officials.

Among gynecologists and family-planning clinics throughout the South Bay, there have been more birth-control consultations since the fall, and women are asking for more reliable, more permanent methods of contraception.

"They want to focus their finances on the one or two kids that they have," said an OB-GYN. "Instead of going with condoms or birth-control pills, they want longer-term solutions like the intrauterine device." IUDs have a lower failure rate than birth-control pills and condoms, according to the CDC.

A national Gallup poll revealed that 20% of women surveyed were more concerned about an unintended pregnancy during the bad economy, and 19% were more conscientious about using birth control.

In the years straddling the market crash of the Great Depression, birthrates plummeted almost 30%. Rates peaked after World War II, then took another nose-dive following the recession of the early 1970s.

Even lower-income women are filling the rooms of in a Planned Parenthood clinic East San Jose.

Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, which runs 33 clinics in Northern California,

including the South Bay region, sees between 40,000 and 50,000 patients every month. Last December clinics had 25% visits than the previous year, and in March, it was 16% more, with the bulk of patients coming in for birth-control consultations, refills and infection screenings and treatment. Local abortion rates went down during the same time period.

One woman who opted for an IUD said she wanted a more reliable method since her boyfriend started having trouble finding painting and construction jobs. They can hardly pay the rent on their one-bedroom apartment, and as their public benefits run out, they're struggling with the four kids they have. "I tried the injection and I got pregnant, I tried the pill and I got pregnant. I needed something safer."

Some women use permanent sterilization, such as the outpatient procedure of placing titanium coils in the fallopian tubes.

Sometimes it is more than the money. For Indian immigrant women on H-1B visas that require them to be actively employed, losing a job can mean leaving the country.

Paying for the birth control itself is usually a challenge for low income women. California's Family Planning, Access, Care and Treatment program, which provides free contraception and reproductive-health services to low-income Californians of childbearing age, received 5,000 more claims in 2008 for services than in 2007. Latinos make up the majority of enrollees in the

program at 65% statewide.

With the proposed up to $36 million in cuts to family-planning programs in the state budget, there is much to fear. The federal government matches

every $1 the state spends on family planning with $9, so even more is at stake.

Men are also undergoing more vasectomies to cushion their families against hard times.

A widowed and HIV-positive patient admitted herself to have her baby delivered in a hospital, even though she had no money to pay the bill, to reduce the risk of transmitting the virus during childbirth. After labor, both mother and baby were shunted into a locked, guarded room with other indigent patients. They were given one meal, sometimes two, a day, but no clothes or diapers for the infants. In the poor conditions the baby died, even though it was born free of HIV.

Such horror stories are common and are spurring outrage in Kenya. Government inaction makes the practice de facto public policy, even though its legality has been questioned.

Poor Kenyans who are seriously ill or dying often avoid hospitals, even though they might provide treatment or dispense painkillers and help control public contagion.

Because of this, terminal AIDS and cancer patients often end up going back to their families in their homelands, where they face a painful, lingering death with little more than family members or traditional healers to comfort them.

Similar problems exist in Nairobi. Bodies of accident victims, for example, are held until the family can pay the expenses.

Masses of ice in the Patagonia are melting in larger proportions and in much higher alpine zones than in any other part of the world, including Alaska and the Himalayas. Glacier ice accounts for around 75% of the world's fresh water.

The loss of ice mass in the higher zones is a new phenomenon, the scientists said. With ice thinning both high up and down low, loss in glacial mass in Patagonia is likely to be much greater than what has previously been calculated by scientists.

Most of Chile's 3,500 identified glaciers have experienced significant losses in volume and surface area due to climate change and are in danger of disappearing altogether.

Between 1995 and 2000, Patagonian glaciers made up 9% of the total glacier contribution to global sea levels.

The Southern Patagonia Ice Field has the third largest concentration of continental ice, after Antarctica and Greenland.

The higher temperatures associated with glacier meltdowns and climate change are largely caused by CO2 or 'greenhouse gas' emissions. Chile's failure to develop a sensible renewable energy policy has resulted in a green light to highly-polluting coal and diesel fuel energy production.

State authorities confirm that the nation's CO2 emissions will quadruple in the next 20 year if no mitigating actions are taken.

President Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development recommended that annual green card numbers be cut low enough to allow the U.S. population to stabilize. Without it, environmental sustainability in the U.S. was seen as impossible with massive U.S. population growth through the massive immigration that Congress was pushing.

Another Clinton-era commission, the bi-partisan U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, chaired by Barbara Jordon, recommended deep cuts in immigration to remove the economic injustice that current immigration numbers impose on the most vulnerable members of our national community.

In a time of grave environmental concerns, and 9% unemployment rate, S. 424 is being examined without a concern for either; instead every piece of complex immigration legislation caters to special interest groups.

But nearly every new adult permanently added to the U.S. population through immigration legislation would be a potential competitor to unemployed and underemployed American workers. And every new immigrant increases the total U.S. carbon footprint and ecological footprint.

In 1972, Americans chose to reduce the U.S. fertility rate to below the replacement level of 2.1. It has been just below that level ever since.

However, the last two decades have seen the largest U.S. population boom in our nation’s history and even the annual number of births is setting all-time records.

Every time U.S. citizens deal with extra costs, congestion, sprawl or other deterioration in quality of life due to explosive population growth, they can thank one Congress after another that has either raised immigration numbers or maintained the new higher levels.

There has been a quadrupling of annual green cards since 1965. Before 1970, there were only 250,000 green cards issued each year.

In 2008, 1,107,126 green cards were issued to immigrants. The period from 2000-2007 saw 725,000 illegal foreign workers and dependents. In 2005 there were 1,015,000 annual births to legal and illegal immigrants.

To stabilized U.S. population, green card numbers would have to be cut back to that traditional level – between 250,000 and 300,000. This would result in 50 million more people by 2050, instead of the 130 million if we maintain current immigration levels.

The Department of Energy has a very ambitious goal of wind producing 20% of electricity demand by 2030, but the population growth resulting from such high immigration levels will add more new electricity demand during that time than all the new wind power added.

Immigration-driven U.S. population growth is making the really difficult tasks of meeting carbon goals, energy goals, infrastructure goals and economic goals close to impossible without fundamentally slashing the American standard of living.

We should think of our children and grandchildren who will inherit an energy-depleted and resource-depleted planet.

The President Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development said: "As a matter of public debate, immigration is a sensitive and explosive issue, and both legal and illegal immigration must be addressed with great sensitivity and care in order to advance the debate."

Bills like S. 424 might work if each of the new green cards created in a bill was accompanied by a “multiple off-set” that not only would make up for the new green cards but would advance the overall reduction goal, but there is no sign of this happening.

The International Services Assistance Fund (ISAF) has focused on expanding QS usage.

This simple, safe, easy to administer method of female sterilization has been used by over 200,000 women, some for 30 years, in over 50 countries including the US, with no reported deaths or life threatening complications.

An FDA Phase III Trial was permitted in June 2006, but put on "clinical hold" in January 2007 until additional safety data can be supplied. This major data gathering is now under way, and a renewal of the trial is anticipated once this data is presented. To date, some 1700 providers have used QS around the world with excellent results. One MD has provided the method to nearly 600 HIV positive women, since surgical sterilization in such situations can be difficult to arrange.

For more information check our web site at www.quinacrine.com

Only a fraction of rapes are reported, and very few of those lead to a conviction.

Participants in the survey were guaranteed anonymity.

The high rate was attributed to ideas about masculinity based on gender hierarchy and the sexual entitlement of men, rooted in an African ideal of manhood."

The study also found that men who are physically violent towards women are twice as likely to be HIV -positive and were also likely not use condoms.

Any woman raped by a man over the age of 25 has a one in four chance of her attacker being HIV -positive.

One in 10 men said they had been forced to have sex with another man, but this is rarely reported in cultures where homosexuality is taboo.

South Africa's government has been repeatedly criticised for failing to address the crisis. Only 7% of reported rapes are estimated to lead to a conviction.

President Jacob Zuma, a polygamist, was tried for the rape of a family friend and was eventually acquitted. We need South African men, from the top to the grassroots, to take responsibility. 'If Jacob Zuma can have many wives, I can have many girlfriends.'

Another report said that one child is raped in South Africa every three minutes, with 88% of rapes going unreported. This rate seems to be increasing.

The dolphin's immune systems were suppressed, by environmental contaminants.

Scientists are predicting the area could measure between 7,450 and 8,456 square miles, or an area roughly the size of New Jersey.

This hypoxic, or low-to-no oxygen area, is of particular concern because it threatens valuable commercial and recreational Gulf fisheries by destroying critical habitat.

"The high water volume flows coupled with nearly triple the nitrogen concentrations in these rivers over the past 50 years from human activities has led to a dramatic increase in the size of the dead zone," said Gene Turner, Ph.D., a lead forecast modeler from Louisiana State University.

"There hasn't been adequate emphasis on family planning as a strategy, and yet it is a cost-effective thing." ... "When you provide family planning, you are reducing unwanted pregnancies and therefore maternal mortality - including deaths from abortion."

In Sub-Saharan Africa 241,000 maternal deaths occur every year, almost half of the 529,000 maternal deaths that occur worldwide, according to UN figures. A woman there has a one in 16 chance of dying during pregnancy or childbirth, compared to one in 4,000 in the developed world.

The problem is funding shortfalls. A Jan. 20 report by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) says donor funding for family planning declined considerably from 1995 to 2004. Funding for family planning programmes decreased by 36% from 1995 to 2003.

The AIDS pandemic has been absorbing an ever-greater share of financial assistance and is expected to continue and to be especially prominent among donor countries," noted a 2006 UN ECOSOC report.

But with the pressures of population growth, the problem is magnified.

"With the high population growth, governments are not able to provide infrastructure for their people, including reproductive health care," Uganda's Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, said.

Another problem is the misunderstandings about contraception. Women in rural areas talk about the intra-uterine device moving up to the brain. Very few people know about the female condom, due to lack of knowledge distribution.

In Kenya, 34% of women of reproductive age who want to use contraception lack access to it.

Cost is also a problem. While a pack of three male condoms sells for just under 15 U.S. cents in Kenya, a single female condom costs about four dollars - something of a luxury in a country where 56% of the population lives on less than a dollar a day, according to government figures.

The female condom allows women to protect themselves during rape, against HIV/AIDS as well as unwanted pregnancies, but there is lack of enthusiasm for the device stemming from men's reluctance to have their partners use it.

"We need to incorporate the men." ... "It is good for them to be able to know that it is important for sex to be safe."

Overall funding for international family planning declined by nearly 40% between 1995 and 2008.

This move shows that members of the House subcommittee understand that, even in a difficult economic climate, real investment in international family planning will pay dividends: it will increase maternal and child survival, ease pressure on the environment, and encourage social stability in the developing world.

The bill will be considered by the full Appropriations Committee next week.

Please sign up for Population Connection's email news at www.populationconnection.org for more developments.

The Essure micro-inserts are passed through the body's natural pathways and inserted into the fallopian tubes. There is no cutting into the body, burning, or destruction of the fallopian tubes.

The Essure procedure is covered by most insurance providers. It is 99.80% effective.

Risks of the procedure include: perforation, expulsion; theoretical increased risk of ectopic pregnancy; pain, cramping, vaginal bleeding, menstrual pattern changes, nausea, vomiting, or fainting.

"Our main task, should the earth continue to heat, is to adapt and learn how to survive," he said. "We're unlikely to become extinct by global heating, but we may be cut back to one billion people or less. The current population is around 6.8 billion.

Lovelock is the originator of the Gaia Hypothesis that the Earth's physical and biological processes are self-regulating and sustaining, not sentient, but in some sense a cohesive "being." The hypothesis has been somewhat influential among biologists and ecologists.

Recently, Lovelock's books - The Revenge of Gaia and The Vanishing Face of Gaia - have turned to 'global heating,' - 'warming' is too tame.

He said nuclear and solar thermal power were the only sensible clean energy responses, and that the U.S. might learn from France about safe handling and disposal of nuclear waste.

Lovelock likened the idea of injecting aerosols into the upper atmosphere to reflect solar heat away from the Earth Lovelock compared such approaches to dialysis for failing kidneys. "It will buy you time, but it's not a cure," he said. "Then again, if your kidneys fail, you never refuse dialysis."

The goal is a million signatures, which they will present to the United Nations (UN) in New York on October 12.

15 years ago the International Conference on Population and Development, involving 179 governments, agreed on a 20 year programme of action to improve the sexual and reproductive health of everyone - forming part of the UN's Millennium Development Goals.

With only five years remaining to meet their commitments, more than 200 million young women worldwide still do not have access to the contraceptives they require and only 17% of sexually active young people use contraceptives. The health and well being of more than 1.5 billion young people is being jeopardised.

Although young people in the UK have access to safe abortion, contraception and maternal health services, the country has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Western Europe and STIs are widespread, the IPPF said.

The UK Government has made a commitment to making sex and relationships education a statutory subject in the national curriculum, long the missing link in the teenage and sexual health strategies.

The IPPF's campaign is aiming to help people like Johanna, a 15 year old Bolivian prostitute. She said: "It is not good living in the streets but I would rather be here then at a government institution, where I wouldn't get to see my friends. I don't always use a condom with my clients because they don't want to use one."

For more information about the campaign or to sign the petition visit www.15andcounting.org

Unintended pregnancies are highly preventable if women have access to voluntary family planning information and services, particularly modern methods of contraception. Investing in contraception significantly improves public health, while also saving money and bolstering national economies.

Researcher by the University of the Philippines Population Institute and the New York City-based Guttmacher Institute found that expanding access to modern contraceptive methods as well as natural family planning in the Philippines would result in 800,000 fewer unplanned births, 500,000 fewer induced abortions and 200,000 fewer miscarriages each year. It would prevent the deaths of 2,100 women—nearly half of all deaths from pregnancy related causes—and prevent the cumulative loss of 120,000 healthy years of women’s lives that are currently shortened or impaired as a result of unintended pregnancies.

The 35% of Filipino women aged 15-49 who are poor account for more than half (53%) of the unmet need for contraception.

WHile providing modern contraceptive services to all women at risk of unintended pregnancy would raise annual family planning costs from P1.9 billion to P4 billion, on the other hand, the medical costs associated with unintended pregnancy, including treating the consequences of unsafe abortion, would fall dramatically—from P3.5 billion to P600 million—resulting in a reduction of P2.9 billion in these costs and a net savings of P0.8 billion.

These savings could then be used to improve and expand a range of health and social services, making it much more possible for the Philippines to achieve its development goals.

The reason to invest in voluntary family planning is to let women decide when to become pregnant and how many children to have. If we succeed in this goal, the payoff will be great for Filipino women, their families, their communities and society overall.

If Congress approves the $593 million, it would represent the largest amount of funding for international family planning and reproductive health programs - not accounting for inflation - ever provided by the U.S.

The $593 million request includes a $50 million U.S. contribution to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The Obama Administration restored funding to the UNFPA after the Bush Administration had refused to fund it.

The Obama Administration also announced of a new "Global Health Initiative, "which calls for increasing funding on global health programs to a total level of $63 billion over the next six years. Of this amount, $12 billion would be devoted to family planning, maternal and child health, and neglected tropical diseases.

The President's said "The world is interconnected, and that demands an integrated approach to global health," and recognizes family planning and reproductive health care services- contribution to addressing public health challenges worldwide and aims to bring us closer to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The policy also reflects the Administration's belief in 'smart power' and the essential role that cost-effective health care initiatives, including family planning, can have in creating more peaceful and stable countries.

Reproductive health programs in Bangladesh, Ghana, Mexico, Nicaragua, Tanzania, and Uganda face funding constraints, a weak commitment to prioritize the purchase of reproductive health supplies on the side of the recipient countries and a limited capacity for distribution.

Dr. Karen Hardee, Vice-President for Research at PAI said “Health care infrastructure and delivery systems are weakening. Our research shows that the availability of reproductive health supplies is precarious at the district and facility level, even when the central government has inventories of supplies.”

More than 200 million women in the developing world have an unmet need for contraceptives. Meeting this demand would avert an estimated 52 million unintended pregnancies each year, thereby preventing 140,000 pregnancy related deaths, 505,000 children from losing their mothers and 22 million abortions.

Most urban growth in developing countries now stems from natural increase (more births than deaths) rather than migration from rural areas.

The UN Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat) estimates that more than half of the residents of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, are living in slums, where unemployment is high, livelihoods are unreliable, housing is poor, and basic amenities such as running water and unsanitary conditions mean they have poorer health outcomes than people living elsewhere.

Of every 1,000 live births in the slum areas, 91 infants will die before their first birthday, compared to 67 in Nairobi as a whole, and 79 in rural areas. And in the slums, at least 151 infants die before their fifth birthday compared to 117 in rural areas, and 95 in Nairobi as a whole.

Despite the poor infant mortality rates, according to the UNFPA report, the potential benefits of urbanisation far outweigh the disadvantages. Approaches should try to reduce natural increase, the major component driving urban population growth, by reducing poverty levels, promoting gender equity and equality, making education universally available and meeting reproductive health needs. These will enable women to avoid unwanted fertility and reduce the main factor in the growth of urban populations-natural increase.

Dr Alex Ezeh, executive director of the African Population and Health Research Centre in Nairobi, says "Large proportions of poor urban women who either do not want any more children or want to delay their next birth for at least two years, are at risk of getting pregnant because they are not using any method of family planning."

A five year study,'Educational outcomes in health and fertility', conducted in Kenya, Ghana, India and Pakistan, is currently under way to study the factors underlying a woman's decision to use contraception. It examines the link between schooling and reproductive decisions in poor households. It will try to determine how many years of schooling are required to enable women to take more independent decisions and to access a wider range of external resources.

In the latest study of more than 1,000 men in China, about 1% conceived a child, similar figures to the 1 or 2% of women who become pregnant while taking oral contraception.

However, one stumbling block will be whether women would sufficiently trust men to make reliable use of hormonal contraception. Almost one third of the men enrolled in the trial did not complete it and no reason was proposed.

Until, male options have been limited to vasectomy, condom and withdrawal.

A side effect is the lowering of natural testosterone output. To counteract this a small amount of testosterone is given regularly.

The men's fertility returned to normal in all but two participants after the treatment was stopped. Sperm counts return to normal four to six months after the injections are halted.

The latest EIA report has dropped the projected 2030 figure to just 93.1 million barrels per day - 14.1 million less barrels than the 2006 report.

Adding unconventional to conventional fuels, you end up with a net projected decline of 11.1 million barrels per day in the global supply of liquid fuels.

In other words, the EIA now believes global fuel supplies will not keep pace with rising world energy demands. This is in keeping with what certain other petroleum geologists and energy types have been warning that world oil output is approaching a maximum sustainable daily level—a peak, subsequently going into decline.

This would likely produce global economic chaos. There is growing agreement that we have made it into peak-oil territory, if not yet to the moment of irreversible decline.

The EIO report projects that, in 2025, world liquids output, conventional and unconventional, will reach only 101.1 million barrels per day. Conventional oil output will be just 89.6 million barrels per day.

The EIA has also lowered their projections of 2025 energy demand to 101.1 million barrels per day, conveniently just what the world is expected to produce at that time. This is lower than the 2005 projection for 2025 at 119.2 million barrels per day, just below anticipated output at that time.

All evidence suggests that growth in Inida and Chine will resume its pre-crisis pace by the end of 2009 or early 2010. Under those circumstances, global oil demand will eventually outpace supply, threatening recurring and potentially disastrous economic disorders.

The IEO report projects that unconventional liquid production will reach 13.4 million barrels per day in 2030, up 13% from a projected 9.7 million barrels in the 2008 edition. Unconventional fuels include Canadian oil sands, Venezuelan extra-heavy oil, deep-offshore oil, Arctic oil, shale oil, liquids derived from coal (coal-to-liquids or CTL), and biofuels. These constitute about 4% of the world's liquid fuel supply.

It will cost several trillion dollers to build new industries to be created to manufacture such fuels, which will, in turn, have environmental consequences, (like more green house gas emmissions) that will need to be dealt with.

Any increase in the production of Canadian oil sands, Venezuelan extra-heavy oil, and Rocky Mountain shale oil will entail energy-intensive activities at staggering levels, sure to emit vast amounts of CO2, which might more than cancel out any gains from the biofuels.

Increased biofuels production risks the diversion of vast tracts of arable land from the crucial cultivation of basic food staples to the manufacture of transportation fuel. If oil prices continue to rise, farmers would grow more corn and other crops for eventual conversion to transportation fuels, which means rises in food costs that could price basics out of the range of the very poor, while stretching working families to the limit.

This year, the EIA is projecting that China will overtake the United States in energy consumption between 2010 and 2014. As the world's leading energy consumer, Beijing will undoubtedly play a far more critical role in setting international energy policies and prices, undercutting the pivotal role long played by Washington. Major oil producers in the Middle East and Africa will see it as in their interest to deepen political and economic ties with China at the expense of the United States.

The development that occured following the deforestation was found to be transitory, not a sustained improvement in peoples' well-being.

Human prosperity, in terms of income, education and health, were measured among settlers along the Amazon's deforested areas.

Poor, often landless people from around Brazil flock to places where initial logging occurs, and soon experience an improvement in quality of life - in income and health and education. When the timber trade gives way to farming and raising livestock, the land is fertile and productive, but it soon declines. Settlers then either stay on whatever land they have managed to possess or head for the next deforestation frontier.

"What happens afterwards is a combination of population increase ... and the over-exploitation of natural resources," said lead author Ana Rodrigues.

The Amazon and other large old-growth forests are valuable as repositories of climate-warming carbon dioxide; vegetation on farm fields and pastures does not store nearly as much.

The development that occured following the deforestation was found to be transitory, not a sustained improvement in peoples' well-being.

Human prosperity, in terms of income, education and health, were measured among settlers along the Amazon's deforested areas.

Poor, often landless people from around Brazil flock to places where initial logging occurs, and soon experience an improvement in quality of life - in income and health and education. When the timber trade gives way to farming and raising livestock, the land is fertile and productive, but it soon declines. Settlers then either stay on whatever land they have managed to possess or head for the next deforestation frontier.

"What happens afterwards is a combination of population increase ... and the over-exploitation of natural resources," said lead author Ana Rodrigues.

The Amazon and other large old-growth forests are valuable as repositories of climate-warming carbon dioxide; vegetation on farm fields and pastures does not store nearly as much.

Much of the wretchedness and hope-deprivation found in developing nations can be traced to the largely unmet needs for financial capital (in excess of $1 trillion/ year) due to the demands for capital to fund the infrastructure expansion that population growth entails. The conversion of labor-intensive agriculture to capital-intensive agriculture in developing nations, in combination with a lack of undeveloped arable land in developing nations, adds significantly to population-driven migrations to marginally arable lands and to the urban slums that ring most of the large urban areas of developing nations.

The growing contentiousness over U.S. support for international family planning (IFP) is traced to the broadening of the issue to include (1) increased educational and economic opportunities for women in developing nations and (2) concerns that demographic issues (over-population and/or population growth) are at the root of the growing social, economic, political, and military instabilities in the developing world.

Further reduction of fertility rates require increased educational and economic opportunities for women. As a result, opponents of abortion, and artificial contraception have come to see growing public concerns over over-population, and desires for expanded life-shaping opportunities for women, as threats.

The total cost of funding family planning- and reproductive health services in developing countries was estimated by the UNFPA at the 1994 Cairo Population Conference to be US$15.2 billion/ year in 2000 (in addition to money spent by developing world citizens on their own family-planning). The financial shortfall in 2000 from the $15.2 billion/ year cost estimate is about $10.7 billion/ year - $7.3 billion for family planning and $3.4 for reproductive health.

The unmet need for family-planning services in the mid-1990s was about 350 million couples (UNFPA estimate). The UNFPA apparently estimated these needs would cost $20/ couple/ year to fill. It would appear that the number of couples with unmet needs has not diminished since the mid-1990s. A major problem in recent years has been that funds that would otherwise have gone to family planning services have been diverted to HIV/AIDS issues.

Filling the unmet need for family planning services and basic reproductive health services could reduce the total fertility rate of the developing world from 3.2 down to 2.7 children per woman. The reduction to 2.1 (required for eventual population stabilization) would need to come from reductions in desired family size, i.e. from women having more life-shaping options such as educational and economic opportunities. Only 33% of developing-world population growth comes from unwanted fertility. About 49% comes from momentum caused by the population age structure, and this requires at least two generations to eliminate. About 18% of population growth comes from high desired family size.

All this insures a global population several billion larger than today's six billion unless developing world fertilities can be reduced to below replacement levels, i.e. below about 2.1. The world's food/ natural fiber/ freshwater supply systems are unable to support this on a sustainable basis, given the financial capital constraints faced by developing nations.

Some contend that IFP is being "rammed down the throats" of developing nations. This charge is contrary to the views and wished expressed by developing nations themselves at the 1984 Population Conference in Mexico City.

Each 1% growth of population requires a capital investment of 12.5% of a nation's GNP (GDP) in its new citizens (educational-, industrial-, commercial-, and transportation- infrastructure, plus housing, land development, judicial systems, other government facilities, utilities etc.).

Thus developing nations now require over $1.0 trillion/ year to accommodate population growth. This magnitude readily explains why developed-world development- and humanitarian aid and loans to developing nations have been ineffective in uplifting developing nations. It also indicates the huge gains to be expected from investing relatively modest sums in IFP-related services.

For more, visit the website at the link above.

Much of the wretchedness and hope-deprivation found in developing nations can be traced to the largely unmet needs for financial capital (in excess of $1 trillion/ year) due to the demands for capital to fund the infrastructure expansion that population growth entails. The conversion of labor-intensive agriculture to capital-intensive agriculture in developing nations, in combination with a lack of undeveloped arable land in developing nations, adds significantly to population-driven migrations to marginally arable lands and to the urban slums that ring most of the large urban areas of developing nations.

The growing contentiousness over U.S. support for international family planning (IFP) is traced to the broadening of the issue to include (1) increased educational and economic opportunities for women in developing nations and (2) concerns that demographic issues (over-population and/or population growth) are at the root of the growing social, economic, political, and military instabilities in the developing world.

Further reduction of fertility rates require increased educational and economic opportunities for women. As a result, opponents of abortion, and artificial contraception have come to see growing public concerns over over-population, and desires for expanded life-shaping opportunities for women, as threats.

The total cost of funding family planning- and reproductive health services in developing countries was estimated by the UNFPA at the 1994 Cairo Population Conference to be US$15.2 billion/ year in 2000 (in addition to money spent by developing world citizens on their own family-planning). The financial shortfall in 2000 from the $15.2 billion/ year cost estimate is about $10.7 billion/ year - $7.3 billion for family planning and $3.4 for reproductive health.

The unmet need for family-planning services in the mid-1990s was about 350 million couples (UNFPA estimate). The UNFPA apparently estimated these needs would cost $20/ couple/ year to fill. It would appear that the number of couples with unmet needs has not diminished since the mid-1990s. A major problem in recent years has been that funds that would otherwise have gone to family planning services have been diverted to HIV/AIDS issues.

Filling the unmet need for family planning services and basic reproductive health services could reduce the total fertility rate of the developing world from 3.2 down to 2.7 children per woman. The reduction to 2.1 (required for eventual population stabilization) would need to come from reductions in desired family size, i.e. from women having more life-shaping options such as educational and economic opportunities. Only 33% of developing-world population growth comes from unwanted fertility. About 49% comes from momentum caused by the population age structure, and this requires at least two generations to eliminate. About 18% of population growth comes from high desired family size.

All this insures a global population several billion larger than today's six billion unless developing world fertilities can be reduced to below replacement levels, i.e. below about 2.1. The world's food/ natural fiber/ freshwater supply systems are unable to support this on a sustainable basis, given the financial capital constraints faced by developing nations.

Some contend that IFP is being "rammed down the throats" of developing nations. This charge is contrary to the views and wished expressed by developing nations themselves at the 1984 Population Conference in Mexico City.

Each 1% growth of population requires a capital investment of 12.5% of a nation's GNP (GDP) in its new citizens (educational-, industrial-, commercial-, and transportation- infrastructure, plus housing, land development, judicial systems, other government facilities, utilities etc.).

Thus developing nations now require over $1.0 trillion/ year to accommodate population growth. This magnitude readily explains why developed-world development- and humanitarian aid and loans to developing nations have been ineffective in uplifting developing nations. It also indicates the huge gains to be expected from investing relatively modest sums in IFP-related services.

For more, visit the website at the link above.

Much of the wretchedness and hope-deprivation found in developing nations can be traced to the largely unmet needs for financial capital (in excess of $1 trillion/ year) due to the demands for capital to fund the infrastructure expansion that population growth entails. The conversion of labor-intensive agriculture to capital-intensive agriculture in developing nations, in combination with a lack of undeveloped arable land in developing nations, adds significantly to population-driven migrations to marginally arable lands and to the urban slums that ring most of the large urban areas of developing nations.

The growing contentiousness over U.S. support for international family planning (IFP) is traced to the broadening of the issue to include (1) increased educational and economic opportunities for women in developing nations and (2) concerns that demographic issues (over-population and/or population growth) are at the root of the growing social, economic, political, and military instabilities in the developing world.

Further reduction of fertility rates require increased educational and economic opportunities for women. As a result, opponents of abortion, and artificial contraception have come to see growing public concerns over over-population, and desires for expanded life-shaping opportunities for women, as threats.

The total cost of funding family planning- and reproductive health services in developing countries was estimated by the UNFPA at the 1994 Cairo Population Conference to be US$15.2 billion/ year in 2000 (in addition to money spent by developing world citizens on their own family-planning). The financial shortfall in 2000 from the $15.2 billion/ year cost estimate is about $10.7 billion/ year - $7.3 billion for family planning and $3.4 for reproductive health.

The unmet need for family-planning services in the mid-1990s was about 350 million couples (UNFPA estimate). The UNFPA apparently estimated these needs would cost $20/ couple/ year to fill. It would appear that the number of couples with unmet needs has not diminished since the mid-1990s. A major problem in recent years has been that funds that would otherwise have gone to family planning services have been diverted to HIV/AIDS issues.

Filling the unmet need for family planning services and basic reproductive health services could reduce the total fertility rate of the developing world from 3.2 down to 2.7 children per woman. The reduction to 2.1 (required for eventual population stabilization) would need to come from reductions in desired family size, i.e. from women having more life-shaping options such as educational and economic opportunities. Only 33% of developing-world population growth comes from unwanted fertility. About 49% comes from momentum caused by the population age structure, and this requires at least two generations to eliminate. About 18% of population growth comes from high desired family size.

All this insures a global population several billion larger than today's six billion unless developing world fertilities can be reduced to below replacement levels, i.e. below about 2.1. The world's food/ natural fiber/ freshwater supply systems are unable to support this on a sustainable basis, given the financial capital constraints faced by developing nations.

Some contend that IFP is being "rammed down the throats" of developing nations. This charge is contrary to the views and wished expressed by developing nations themselves at the 1984 Population Conference in Mexico City.

Each 1% growth of population requires a capital investment of 12.5% of a nation's GNP (GDP) in its new citizens (educational-, industrial-, commercial-, and transportation- infrastructure, plus housing, land development, judicial systems, other government facilities, utilities etc.).

Thus developing nations now require over $1.0 trillion/ year to accommodate population growth. This magnitude readily explains why developed-world development- and humanitarian aid and loans to developing nations have been ineffective in uplifting developing nations. It also indicates the huge gains to be expected from investing relatively modest sums in IFP-related services.

For more, visit the website at the link above.

This would include the right to abstain from sex, and the right to acquire and correctly use contraception if they do not abstain. It includes all aspects of respecting and protecting one's partner. This would help ensure fewer unintended pregnancies and God's "gift" of sexually transmitted diseases.

The moralistic abstinence approach of the GOP and some churches has resulted in an increase in teen pregnancy and the waste of taxpayer money. Hormones are obviously not very amenable to moralistic persuasion, as the church should know based on the number of lawsuits it has endured for clerical sexuality run amok.

The bishop thinks pregnancy help centers should encourage women to carry children to term whether they want to or not. Women are equipped to make the best choice, based on their circumstances, whether to give birth or terminate a pregnancy, than those politicians, priests and prelates who would deny women the right of choice. Why do they believe embryos more than equal to a thinking person?

If you don't like abortion, don't have one. Most bishops and politicians have never been pregnant and thus are impaired in their ability to make moral choices for other people. How can the church, which has lobbied against contraceptives for at least the past two centuries, condemn abortion when it promotes unplanned pregnancies by advocating Vatican roulette as the only valid means of fertility control not only for Catholics but for all humans?

In the central North Pacific Ocean gyre, swirling plastic fragments now outweigh plankton 46 to one. CO2 in the atmosphere is higher today than anytime in the past 650,000 years. Nearly one in four mammals is threatened with extinction, and worse - one in three amphibians and a quarter of all conifers. In many parts of the world, including the High Plains of North America, human water use exceeds annual average water replenishment; by 2025 1.8 billion people will be living in regions with absolute water scarcity, according to the UN. Unsustainable farming practices cause the destruction and abandonment of almost 30 million acres of arable land each year.

The number of humans is still increasing by 1.18% per year, or 80 million annually, the equivalent of nearly two Sudans, or three and a half Taiwans. Even though China is only growing by 0.5% annually, it is still growing by eight million people each year. The US, with a 1% population grow rate, increases by more than 2.9 million people annually,

the equivalent of almost four new San Franciscos.

Many argue that a decrease in human numbers would lead to a fiscal catastrophe, seeing that, in the last 200 years,

unprecedented economic growth has been accompanied by an equally unprecedented increase in world population. During the 1800s and 1900s, up to half of world economic growth was likely due to population growth; Georgetown University environmental historian John McNeill explains: "A big part of economic growth to date consists of population growth.

More hands, more work, more things produced."

Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a measure of economic success or failure, is the number of people multiplied by per capita income. Slow population growth, and economic growth will likely slow as well unless advances in productivity and spending increase at rates high enough to make up the difference. This perhaps explains why population policy is not a popular issue.

Instead We should be looking at per capita GDP, which corrects for population growth. While Japan's economy has been touted as 'bad', based on its national GDP it has actually enjoyed the biggest gain in average income among the big three rich economies. GDP is 'bad' only because its population is shrinking. Population decline may slow economic growth on a nationwide basis, "but it would not necessarily reduce per capita wealth or, indeed, per capita growth."

Nicholas Eberstadt, a political economist at the American Enterprise Institute, suggests "an orderly and relatively slow reduction in population, and not a chaotic plunge in our numbers as a result of war, disease, a breakdown in healthcare systems, or natural catastrophe." What is necessary is to match low death rates with low birthrates.

Daniel O'Neill of the Center for the Advancement of a Steady State Economy says: "t this point in history, having too many people, or too high a level of consumption, is much more likely to result in the end of economic progress, via ecological collapse, than having too few." The costs of economic growth in the U.S. began to exceed the benefits sometime in the late 1970s.

An economic "slowdown" that results from slowing and eliminating population growth is distinctly different from that caused by a credit crunch or the messy bursting of a speculative bubble. While it's true there will be fewer mouths to feed, there will also be fewer pairs of hands needing employment. In many poorer nations, having more children means increasing the supply of labor, and lowering wages.

Unfortunately,'GDP' does not differentiate between costs and benefits and we end up spending more money to fix the problems caused by population growth. The costs of mitigating the stress imposed by a ballooning population on roads, schools, parks, agricultural land, air and water quality, government services, and ecosystems add to the total pool of a country's economic transactions.

“Sure, population decline will slow down aggregate demand. On the other hand, it's going to increase the amount of resources per capita," Daly says.

While reducing population growth in an orderly fashion promises more economic good than ill, it will bring about social and economic challenges that even proponents of shrinking the population do not dismiss lightly. Of particular concern are the challenges associated with reducing the number of working age people relative to retirees.

If we have fewer people, we will be spared the problems caused by overpopulation, save on natural resources, and in the long run be more able to provide for the social security of our aging population.

The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) team, an international group of 300 scientists, concluded in a 2005 study that the Arctic is warming almost twice as fast as the rest of the planet, with winter temperatures in Alaska, western Canada, and eastern Russia already increased by 3-4 degrees Celsius (4–7 degrees Fahrenheit) over the last half-century.

A speaker for the Inuits said their struggle to survive in the fast-changing Arctic climate as "a snapshot of “a snapshot of what is happening to the planet.”

The retreat of the sea ice has devastating consequences for polar bears, who are turning to cannibalism and whose very survival may be at stake.

From 1979 to 2006 the summer sea ice shrinkage accelerated to 9.1% a decade. The Artic sea could be ice-free by 2030, if not earlier, say some scientists. Arctic scientist Julienne Stroeve suggested that shrinking Arctic sea ice may have reached “a tipping point that could trigger a cascade of climate change reaching into Earth’s temperate regions.”

In the Arctic there is the albedo effect, where most of incoming sunlight is reflected back into space after it strikes the ice in the Arctic Ocean. Only 30% is absorbed as heat. When the ice melts, more of the sunlight will be absorbed (94%) and will converted into heat. This may account for the accelerating shrinkage of the Arctic sea ice and the rising regional temperature, which would melt Greenland's ice sheet—up to 1 mile thick in places. Since this ice sheet is on land, its melting would raise the sea level.

As an ice sheet’s surface begins to melt, some of the water filters down through cracks in the glacier, lubricating the surface between the glacier and the rock beneath it, accelerating the glacial flow and the calving of icebergs into the surrounding ocean where the water is relatively warmer and will warm the glacier faster than if it were still on land.

A study published in Science in September 2006 reported that the rate of ice melt on the vast island of Greenland has tripled over the last several years. NASA scientists in 2006 reported that the flow of glaciers into the sea was accelerating.

The massive Antarctic ice sheet, which contains 70% of the world’s fresh water, is also beginning to melt. NASA scientists in 2007 widespread snow-melt on the interior of the Antarctic ice sheet over an area the size of California.

A study by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) found that 634 million people live along coasts at or below 10 meters above sea level, in what they call the Low Elevation Coastal Zone.

IF the sea level were to rise 10 meters, China would have 144 million climate refugees. India and Bangladesh would have 63 and 62 million respectively. Viet Nam has 43 million vulnerable people, and Indonesia, 42 million. Others in the top 10 include Japan with 30 million, Egypt with 26 million, and the United States with 23 million.

In Bangladesh, already one of the world’s most densely populated countries, would see 62 million of its people forced to crowd in with 97 million others on higher ground.

Some of the world’s largest cities and vast areas of productive farmland would also be lost. The rice-growing river deltas and floodplains of Asia would be covered with salt water, depriving the area of part of its food supply.

"The Arctic is in crisis due to global warming," said Rebecca Noblin, with the Center in Anchorage. "An entire ecosystem is rapidly melting away, and we risk losing not only the polar bear but the ice seals and other ice-dependent species if we do not take immediate action to address global warming."

The seals depend on the sea ice for giving birth, rearing pups, and resting. The early breakup of sea ice destroys habitat, decreases food availability, and/or exposes them to predators.

Oil and gas development in the area, and the proliferation of shipping routes expose the seals to the risk of oil spills and rising levels of noise pollution and other kinds of human disturbance.

"With rapid action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution, combined with a moratorium on new oil and gas development in the Arctic, we can still save the ice seals and other Arctic wildlife," Noblin said.

To turn southern desert into productive farmland, a monumental system of dams and pipelines were built, leaving less water for trout, salmon, sturgeon and other fish.

With the state in its third year of drought, and climate change and a growing population, the fate of some salmon runs looks untenable without change.

If water conservation, recycling and groundwater use do not offset the cuts, the state may be more tempted to build more dams and canals to capture the last trickles that bypass the system.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation regional director said the mounting restrictions on water "just cannot be offset in any given year and maybe over time." State and federal water projects this year have slashed deliveries to about 40 percent of most requests, due to drought, and agricultural losses are expected near $1 billion.

The fisheries agency plans to keep more water behind big dams during the year to ensure a supply of cold water in which salmon spawn, restrict some pumping, and find ways for fish to get to historical spawning grounds upriver from dams.

income countries. It also proposes future directions for the Bank, making a case for expanding support to family planning and other reproductive health programs, to strengthen access to reproductive health services for the poor, for adolescents, and for other vulnerable groups.

Reproductive health is central to human development, sustained economic growth, and poverty reduction. Neglecting critical areas such as family planning, sexual health, and maternal & newborn health would have catastrophic implications for countries. The current escalating HIV/AIDS epidemic, as well as the limited progress on MDG 5 bears testimony to this.

The World Bank endorsed the 1994 Cairo Consensus coming out of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). Since then, global attention and resources for population issues have been declining, and an urgent response is now required on the part of the Bank, as well as from other development partners, to reposition family planning within the ICPD

agenda. Within this changing context, this discussion paper sets out approaches for the Bank to re-engage with countries and other partners to accomplish this.

Going forward, a priority for the Bank will be the 35 countries that have the highest fertility rates, often showing little change over time. Analytical work is urgently needed to determine the cause of sustained high fertility, addressing, among others, unfavorable socioeconomic factors influencing household behaviors, as well as reproductive health services that do not adequately address needs. Such analytical work will be the basis for policy dialogue, to be reflected in key strategic documents, such as Country Assistance Strategies, Country Economic Memoranda, Public Expenditure Reviews, and Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers.

This discussion paper is intended to stimulate the debate on the way forward for improving access to family planning and comprehensive reproductive health services in low- and middleincome countries. This debate will be an important input for upcoming sector work for developing a more strategic approach for the Bank in this area.

Follow the link ABOVE for the entire paper.

If you have not added to the "people glut" compliments---celebrate. It took over 2 million years for our species to reach it's first billion in 1830. It then took only 100 years to add the second billion in 1930. Since then we have "exploded" to 6.7 billion.

All species which increase exponentially modify and contaminate their habitat which is followed by an exponential decrease (deaths) in numbers as their waste builds up. We are on the verge of a population collapse----read Jared Diamond's book entitled "Collapse".

The Los Angeles megalopolis is in my opinion unfit for human habitation---if you disagree, move back there. Recent data indicates that life expectancy is decreasing for people living in L.A.. The air is often unfit to breathe, the ground water is becoming depleted and contaminated; food and water must be brought in from all over. Sewage pours out to contaminate the ocean. In biology it is called a 'sink'.

One hundred Nobel Prize winners, along with 1,500 scientists world wide issued a paper called "World Scientists' Warning to Humanity" that stated: "Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course." It listed ozone depletion, air pollution, lack of fresh water, contamination of ground water, damage to farmlands, global warming, deforestation, invasive exotics, wetland loss and population growth as the greatest dangers. "The earth is finite," the report said, "pressure from unrestrained population growth puts demands on the natural world that can overwhelm any effort to achieve a sustainable future."

We must first put our own house in order. The US is the fastest growing industrialized nation in the world adding 3,000,000 each year. This figure is greater than all other developed nations in the world combined. Immigration accounts for 60% of our population growth and if present trends continue will account for 90% of future growth. A great deal of this immigration comes from Mexico where the birth rate is five times the death rate and where they are doing very little to reduce their high birth rate. Free vasectomies should be provided at the border and required for all illegal immigrants.

Free condom vending machines should be placed in all rest rooms. Teenage pregnancy in the U.S. is the highest of all the developed countries---particularly in Santa Maria. We need more sex education including all methods of contraception.

Sixty percent of pregnancies in the US are unplanned and unintended. Planned Parenthood is essentially the only source of contraception locally as all hospitals are Catholic controlled. Abortion should be available for as back up for contraception failure.

Human life should not be the result of "accidents". Each day we read of child abuse, abandonment, assault and even murder----unwanted babies. Non-Mothers Day, June 7th, is to educate young women that motherhood is just one of many choices of what they do with their lives. Other potential choices are: firefighter, Senator, truck driver, lawyer, Supervisor, computer expert, doctor, road crew or corporate CEO.

High schools have classes where girls carry a baby doll which act like a real baby (cry at 2 AM) which is very educational. Non-mothers make up over 20% of the American female population and even higher in Europe.

Non-Mother's Day, June 7th, is a day set aside to honor these women, call attention to the 'population explosion', to encourage males to get a vasectomy, to add "reproduction" to the other "R's" and to encourage contraceptive use thus reducing "accidents". Every human has a basic right to be born planned, wanted and loved .