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Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Hope for a Global Future: Toward Just and Sustainable Human Development
Approved by the 208 thGeneral Assembly (1996) Presbyterian Church (U.S.A

(This is an excerpt from Hope for a Global Future: Toward Just and Sustainable Human Development)

Just and sustainable human development is the comprehensive enhancement of the quality of life for all, present and future; it necessarily involves the integration of economic, social, political, cultural, ecological, and spiritual dimensions of being.

With this definition of "just and sustainable human development," this policy statement addresses international issues in the economic structure. It is based on a biblical theology and Christian assumption of the mutual responsibility and equality of human beings in God's sight, stating that equitable distribution of goods and ecological constraints put moral limits on economic activity for the sake of human well-being, future generations, and nonhuman life. It calls for a renewed emphasis on the Reformed norm of frugality and lifts up the norm of sufficiency so that all may participate in the "good life," calling for abundant living in caring communities in a way that is less materialistic and more frugal….

What, then, are some effective and ethically reasonable means for preventing overpopulation? Contraception certainly must be a central focus of population policy. For more than thirty years, Presbyterian assemblies have endorsed artificial means of birth control as a right and their use as socially responsible. Since overpopulation exacerbates other social and ecological problems, contraception is not only morally acceptable but also essential for the good of men and women and the common good of nations and nature. The right to birth control information, education, services, and means emerges from the demands of both social and ecological justice.

Population policy should focus on reproductive health, the empowerment of women, and the basic human rights and essential needs of all persons. In this way, an enabling environment can be created that gives women and men a new basis for deciding whether and when they want to have children. Safe, effective, affordable, simple, and reversible means of contraception are necessary but not sufficient for effective population control.

Unfortunately, the demand for family planning greatly exceeds its supply. The United Nations' Conference on Population and Development (Cairo, September 1994) estimated that at least 120 million additional married women would adopt contraception if available and culturally acceptable. Others have suggested that perhaps 300 million women in developing countries now want birth control that is not available to them. Probably many more would want it if they understood its personal, social, and ecological relevance. Thus, there is an urgent need for easily affordable and universally accessible contraceptive education and means for women and men. Men must be included because they bear equal responsibility for procreation, and their attitudes are often controlling factors in the reproductive behavior of women in many countries. Significantly increased efforts in contraceptive research and development are also required. The 1994 Cairo Conference estimated the annual costs of these needs at $17 billion in 2000 and $21.7 billion in 2015, with one-third of these amounts coming from donor nations and organizations.

Population stabilization needs to be part of a much broader strategy for socioeconomic justice. Socioeconomic conditions seem to be prime factors affecting fertility rates, with improvements in the quality of life clearly associated with reductions in the rates and numbers of births. Equality for women—in social status, political power, education, employment, health care, and nutrition, among other things—is critically important. The reproductive health of poor women in developing countries is a scandalous crisis in itself. Jodi L. Jacobson of the Worldwatch Institute describes below the situation:

Taken together, illnesses and deaths from complications of pregnancy, childbirth, and unsafe abortion, from diseases of the reproductive tract, and from the improper use of contraceptive methods top the list of health threats to women of reproductive age worldwide. At least one million women will die of reproductive causes this year [1992], and more than 100 million others will suffer disabling illnesses.

Demographer Partha S. Dasgupta adds another startling note below:

In some parts of sub-Saharan Africa as many as one woman dies for every 50 live births. . . . At a total fertility rate of seven or more, the chance that a woman entering her reproductive years will not live through them is about one in six.

The improved status of women should have a variety of benefits, including a decline in the appallingly high rates of maternal and infant mortality, as well as in fertility rates. Improved economic security for all citizens of poor nations should have similar benefits. According to demographic transition theory, poverty breeds more people in poor countries, since large families provide a means of economic assistance in family production and security in old age. Improved incomes, nutrition, housing, health, education, employment, and social security, then, should decrease the need for more children. Even so, socioeconomic justice is valuable in itself and should be pursued independent of its demo-graphic effects.

Substantial economic and technical assistance from the northern countries will be necessary to help assure these changes and avert the dangers of overpopulation.

On Adequately Funding International Comprehensive Family Planning Programs (1997)

Whereas, the 196th General Assembly (1984) resolution on "The World Population Situation" (Minutes, 1984, Part I, pp. 331-33) and the 206th General Assembly (1994) resolution on "Universal and Voluntary Family Planning" (Minutes, 1994, Part I, pp. 578) supported comprehensive family planning; and

Whereas, at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, in 1994, the United States was instrumental in building a broad consensus of 180 nations behind a comprehensive plan to curb population growth and enhance the status of women, and the heart of the ICPD agreement is the recognition that adequate funding for family planning and reproductive health services can ensure a better future for our children by stabilizing world population in the first half of the next century, and since at ICPD it was estimated that more than 120 million couples would like to plan their families but have no access to information and that over 350 million additional couples would like access to more reliable methods of family planning; and

Whereas, the entire 1997 Foreign Operations budget, which includes foreign aid funds, was held up for months by opponents of family planning, and after agreeing that $385 million would be available for these activities, opponents prohibited disbursement of these funds before July 1, 1997, when nine months of the fiscal year will have passed and also limited disbursement of funds to 8 percent per month— less than one-twelfth of the annual total—effectively prohibiting poor countries receiving such aid from mounting any program that would require a disproportionate share of funds up front; and

Whereas, it is feared that reduced access to family planning services will result in more high-risk births, more unintended pregnancies, more abortions, and more maternal and child deaths in the developing world, and moreover, the administrative restrictions imposed by Congress will redirect much of the reduced funding for family planning assistance to bookkeeping, rather than to meeting the critical needs of women and their families; therefore, be it

Resolved, [That the Presbytery of Baltimore overture the 209th General Assembly (1997) to direct the Stated Clerk to

1. establish on a policy of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that comprehensive family planning programs in the foreign aid budget should be adequately funded on a continuing bipartisan basis and not be subject to ideological political attacks;
2. urge both the president and members of Congress to fully fund all international comprehensive family planning programs in the current budget and significantly increase funding in subsequent budgets as needed to provide for the comprehensive family planning programs in developing nations that are vital to the well being of children, families, national and the peace of the world; and
3. That the 209th General Assembly (1997):
   1. Reaffirm the actions of previous General Assemblies calling for U.S. support for comprehensive family planning programs in developing nations;
   2. Urge bipartisan support for adequate appropriations, communicate effectively that comprehensive family planning does not encourage abortion, and oppose legislative efforts which reduce foreign aid for comprehensive family planning programs.
   3. Urge members of Congress to fully fund all international comprehensive family planning programs in the current budget, and urge the president, with the support of Congress, to increase funding in subsequent budgets as needed to provide for the comprehensive family planning programs in developing nations that are vital to the well-being of children, families, nations, and the peace of the world; and
   4. communicate this resolution to the president of the United States, the secretary of state, and to each member of Congress.