churchandstate | When I visited Iran in the mid 1970’s the then hated Shah was in
power, but women were more likely then than now to receive good
reproductive health care including birth control. This policy produced a
stable birth rate which carried over for decades after the Shah was
deposed by the present religious hierarchy.
Now we find that this same new religious hierarchy has begun offering incentives to Iranian women to produce more children.
According to the 6/8/14 NY Times article, “Urged to Multiply, Iranian Couples Are Dubious” by Thomas Edrbrink,
In their early 30s, married, and with prospects for successful careers, Bita and Sherag could be contemplating the logical next step in their lives: becoming parents.
But for them and an increasing number of young, middle-class Iranians who are deeply pessimistic over their country’s future, raising a child is one of the last things on their minds.
Bita, who like her husband asked for her family name to be withheld so they could speak freely, said she had had two abortions, which are illegal in Iran. “We are really serious about not having kids,” she said.
Iran’s leaders have taken notice. Worried about a steep decline in fertility rates that experts are predicting could reduce population growth to zero within 20 years, Tehran has started a broad initiative to persuade Iranian families to have more children.
Seems a bit redundant to worry about any scarcity of human beings on Earth when you consider that our plundered planet had added 5 billion humans since I was born in 1931.
Who was the environmentalist who noted that endless growth reminded him of the behavior of a cancer cell?
As my OP ED pieces have noted for years, the only true solution to the population crisis will come when all women have access to modern methods of birth control and not be intimidated or coerced by the world’s reprehensible male dominated monotheistic religions!
Will the planet survive until that happens? The jury is still out on that one.
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