Do population programs violate women's human rights?

Abstract

In September 1994 an International Conference on Population and Development, involving government leaders and nongovernmental organizations, will convene in Cairo to debate future population policy for the globe. A major issue that will underlie this debate is whether fertility control programs, which have become very widespread, violate women's human rights and ignore their health and other needs. Many groups advocate that these programs be replaced with programs that enhance women's health, education, or status without explicitly attempting to control their fertility. But is the charge that population programs violate women's human rights valid? And will the proposed women's health and education programs be financially sustainable and effective for reducing population growth? Finding the correct answers to these questions is critical because without further reductions in fertility the world's population will double by 2025 to over 10 billion people. Because of this threat, improving the quality of fertility control programs seems preferable to abandoning them altogether.