ENDEAVOUR FORUM NEWSLETTER No. 113, FEBRUARY 2004

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When I was a child, the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin worried me  - it still does.  For  those unfamiliar with the tale, it is about the town of Hamelin which suffered a plague of rats. A  piper (in a colourful cloak)  claimed that for a fee,  he would play a tune that would cause the rats to follow him and he  would  rid the town of the plague.  He did just that, drew the rats to a river where they  drowned,  but then the  townspeople ungratefully refused to pay him.  He then played a tune that   attracted  all the children in the town - they  followed him and were never seen again.  It was a  very sad town without any of  its children. 

I am reminded of this tale when I read about the activities of Planned Parenthood, the US  affiliate of International Planned Parenthood Federation, to which the Family Planning  Association of Australia is also affiliated.  Planned Parenthood is the largest provider of  abortion services in the US  - its profit-making budget runs into millions of dollars.

For the past two years, Planned Parenthood has sent out a blasphemous "Christmas" card  with  the slogan "Choice on Earth"  as a season's greeting. In other words, Planned Parenthood is mocking the birth of Christ (Peace on Earth) by celebrating the abortion (Choice on Earth) of  unborn babies. This shows incredibly poor taste and ethics.

Randall Terry, President of the Society for Truth and Justice reports that on  Sunday, December  28, 2003,  at 2:30 p.m. local residents held  press conferences and protests in front of the  Planned Parenthood offices located  across the USA in co-ordination with The Society for Truth  and Justice to denounce  this blasphemous card. Large picket signs included: "Planned Herod-hood"; "The Perfect gift: An Aborted baby"; "Merry Christmas -- abort your baby";  "Planned Parenthood kills children"; "Planned Parenthood: Satan's little helpers." 

December 28 is the day the Christian Church traditionally remembers the children killed by Herod after the birth of Christ, as well as being the 4th day of Christmas. Terry says:  "For Planned Parenthood to promote the abortion of children at Christmas in the name of 'Choice  on Earth' is a perversion beyond belief. Think of the women who abort their babies at this time  of year who will be 'haunted' by the ghosts of Christmas past the rest of their lives”. 

Some of the support garnered by organizations such as Planned Parenthood and the Family Planning Association is due to the perception many people have that the world is overpopulated and that there are too many babies being born.  The reality is that there are too few babies and the world is facing  a population implosion.  Steven Mosher, President of the Population Research  Institute warns in his Weekly Briefing of 22 December 2003: 

"Anyone who doubts the seriousness of the demographic crisis that will soon be upon us can look at the projections just published by the United Nations Population Division (UNPD). The low-variant projection - historically the most accurate  - calls for population to peak in 2040 at 7.5 billion people, up only slightly from today's 6.3 billion. 

“This year's revision to the UNPD's World Population Prospects includes special long range projections. By 2300, population will spiral downward to only 2.3 billion. The world of tomorrow will resemble 'old Europe' of today -- graying, aged, and dying. 

"Not that the UNPD got it all right. The UNPD's 'medium variant' projection, the focus of most of the press coverage, rosily called for population to peak at 9.1 billion in 2100 and then remain almost stable for the next two centuries. But these numbers are premised on the wildly optimistic assumption that global fertility rates will bottom out at 1.85 children per woman. 

"In the regal language of the report, '1.85 children per woman represents a floor value below which the total fertility of high and medium-fertility countries is not allowed to drop before 2050.' Again, 1.85 is a floor below which total fertility ‘is not allowed to drop’. No rationale is given for this limitation".  (Editor's query:  Who is going to ‘not let it drop’?) 

"The 'medium-fertility assumption' also shows Europe's fertility rebounding from its current 1.35 children, mysteriously climbing to the required 1.85 by 2050. Again, no rationale is given. Fertility rates in nature, of course, do not rise or fall simply because a demographic model so dictates. In the real world, as opposed to the reified world of modeling, Europe's fertility rates continue to crash. 

"Why these strange assumptions? Why is the fantasy of zero population growth promoted, and the reality of population decline downplayed?

"Perhaps it is because the truth would illuminate the obvious: Our long-term problem is not too many children, but too few children. And population control organizations are only making this problem worse, much worse. Population Research Institute will continue to be a voice for the truth in 2004." 

The demographics  of  developed countries today are   eerily  reminiscent of  the town of  Hamelin.   If  people   are not  grateful for the gift of life  and fertility,  the pied piper of Planned  Parenthood  may  succeed in taking all the children away.

Member Organisation, World Council for Life and Family

NGO in Special Consultative Status with ECOSOC of the UN