Global IssuesSuccess of 'The Pill' Overshadowed by Family Planning Gaps
The birth control pill, currently used by an estimated 100 million women worldwide, commemorated its 50th anniversary last week - but remains controversial in some quarters.
Did it promote sexual promiscuity? How far did it really go in curbing population growth? Are the potential side effects worth the efficacy and convenience? And will the Catholic Church ever give its blessings to a tiny contraceptive viewed by many as a woman's reproductive and intellectual birthright?
In 1960, the average woman in the United States had 3.6 children, but by 1980 the number had dropped to below 2.0.
The pill, according to Time magazine, became 'the means by which women untied their aprons, scooped up their ambitions and marched eagerly into the new age'.
'It was the first medicine ever designed to be taken regularly by people who were not sick,' the magazine noted.
And its main inventor was a conservative Catholic who was looking for a treatment for infertility and instead found a guarantee of it, the U.S. weekly said, in a cover story commemorating the pill.
As Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), points out, the pill 'increased options for women worldwide as they exercise their right to determine the number, timing and spacing of their children'.
'It has also expanded women's ability to take advantage of opportunities for education and employment, enhancing their contributions to their families, societies and nations,' Obaid told IPS.
She stressed that family planning is one of the greatest success stories in international development.
But today, more than 200 million women in developing countries still have an unmet need for modern contraceptives.
'Greater investments are needed to protect the health and rights of women, so they may seize opportunities to contribute even more to developing their communities and nations,' said Obaid.
In 1950, total world population was around 2.5 billion. By the end of 2010, it will rise to 6.8 billion, and by 2020 will reach about 7.5 billion.
Still, the rate of population growth has been declining: from 18.9 percent in 1950 to 10.7 percent in 2010 and a projected 8.7 percent in 2020.
According to UNFPA, about 190 million women become pregnant every year, at least a third of them unintentionally.
And nearly 50 million women resort to abortion every year, with about 19 million procedures performed under unsafe conditions, while an estimated 68,000 women die each year as a result.
Donald Collins, who served on the board of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told IPS that far from saturating the world demands for adequate safe modern contraception, nearly half the women of the world are not so well served.
And that's 50 years after the pill gained approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), he added.
'How many babies born after 1960 were unintended?' he asked.
Far too many, he said, as world population soared from 3.0 billion to almost 7.0 billion today.
Only when modern affordable, safe convenient methods are present can real choices ensue, said Collins, who is also a founding member of the Guttmacher Institute.
One exciting method, which will meet those criteria, he said, is a permanent method of female contraception called QS (quinacrine sterilisation), now under study by the FDA.
Tamara Kreinin, executive director of the United Nations Foundation's (UNF) Women & Population Programme, said the best way to impact population growth is through empowering women who themselves want to plan, time, and space their children.
There are 215 million women in developing countries around the world who would like family planning information and services but are unable to receive it, she added.
'The introduction of the birth control pill 50 years ago was groundbreaking because it began to give women more control over their bodies,' Kreinin told IPS.
But more needs to be done.
She said women deserve comprehensive information, education, and access to high-quality reproductive health services that include an array of contraceptive methods that are best suited to their individual needs.
Asked why the pill should be considered a legitimate right for women, Kreinin said: 'Women deserve access to all methods of contraception, including the pill, as well as access to high-quality health care.'
Both are needed to empower women who want to plan, time, and space their child-bearing, she declared.
© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service