birth control
Article Free PassThe population explosion
In 1790 a Venetian monk, Gianmaria Ortis, concluded that human population growth could not continue indefinitely. Malthus’ work a few years later stimulated more discussion and also provided the intellectual clue that inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of biological evolution through the survival of the fittest. The debate about human numbers remained academic, however, until the 1950s, when a surge in population occurred as a result of the comparative peace and prosperity following World War II.
In Malthus’ time world population was under 1,000,000,000, and when Sanger and Stopes opened the first birth control clinics population was still less than 2,000,000,000. In 1960 global population surpassed 3,000,000,000, and the next 1,000,000,000 was added in a mere 15 years. In the 19th century the population of industrialized nations rarely grew by more than 1 percent per annum, but in the 1960s and ’70s many developing countries exploded at a rate of 2 to 3 percent per year.
Rapid population growth has several economic consequences. It requires heavier investment in education, health, and transport merely to maintain these services at their previous level; yet, the working population has a higher burden of dependence to support, making both individual and national saving more difficult. Although population growth is not the only problem dividing rich and poor countries, it is one important variable that has widened the gap in growth in per capita income between developed and developing nations. Advocates of birth control see it as a means to prevent the personal and social pressures that result from rapid population growth.
Birth control and health
There is a marked relationship between patterns of reproduction and the risk of death to the mother and her child. Maternal deaths and infant mortality are up to 60 percent higher among girls under 15 than among women who have a child in their early 20s. The risk of death to the mother and her child rises again in the second half of the 30s. Maternal and infant mortality is lowest for the second and third deliveries. The risk of certain congenital abnormalities, such as Down’s syndrome (mongolism), is also greater in older women. Therefore, patterns of sexual abstinence and birth control, which concentrate childbearing in the age group 20–35 and limit family size to two or three children, have a direct impact on public health.
At the same time, it must be recognized that patterns of human reproduction have been finely tuned over millions of years of evolution and the postponement of childbearing until the later 20s or 30s also increases the risk of certain diseases. In particular, cancer of the breast is more common in women who postpone the first birth until the later 20s or older. In the Western world, the risk of death to women in childbirth is approximately one in 10,000, but in developing countries, where half the children born are delivered by traditional birth attendants, it is often 10 times as high. As the number of births worldwide rises, a greater number of women are likely to die having children. Simple access to birth control may be expected to reduce high death rates.
Methods of birth control
Nonmedical methods
Abstinence
Abstinence is important in many societies. In the West, most individuals abstain from regular sexual intercourse for many years between puberty and marriage. Raising the age of marriage has been an important element in the decline of the birth rate in China, Korea, and Sri Lanka. Abstinence among couples with grown children is important in some traditional societies, such as certain Hindu groups.
Breast-feeding
The role of breast-feeding in the regulation of human fertility can be illustrated by the following calculation: in Pakistan breast-feeding is virtually universal, and many women breast-feed for two years or more. Fewer than one in 10 women use a modern method of contraception; but if breast-feeding were to decline to levels now found in Central America, four out of 10 women would have to use an artificial method of birth control just to prevent the fertility rate from rising.
Although the information is important to demography, there is no simple way to predict when an individual breast-feeding woman will become fertile again. If she seeks security against pregnancy, a woman may in fact have an overlap of several months between the time she adopts an artificial method and the end of her natural protection.
Coital techniques
Coitus interruptus, the practice by which the male withdraws the penis prior to ejaculation, has been an important method of birth control in the West and was used by more than half of all British couples until well after World War II. It is most common among Roman Catholic and Islamic groups but is less used in the Orient, where coitus reservatus (intercourse without ejaculation) may be more common. The failure rate for coitus interruptus (five to 20 pregnancies per 100 women-years of exposure) overlaps with that of barrier methods of birth control. Although frequently condemned by those promoting other methods of family planning, there is no evidence that coitus interruptus causes any physical or emotional harm. There may be preferable ways of controlling fertility, but for many couples coitus interruptus is better than no method.
The belief that conception cannot take place unless the woman has an orgasm is widespread but untrue. Postcoital douching is not an effective method of birth control.
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