Family Planning A Cost-Effective Strategy To Reduce Poverty, Conflict And Environmental Damage

In his New York Times column, Nicholas Kristof writes that family planning is "a solution to many of the global problems that confront us, from climate change to poverty to civil wars," but that it "has been a victim of America's religious wars" and is "starved of resources." Kristof discusses the potential impacts of overpopulation as the global population surpasses seven billion and adds, "What's needed isn't just birth control pills or IUDs. It's also girls' education and women's rights -- starting with an end to child marriages -- for educated women mostly have fewer children." He concludes, "We should all be able to agree on voluntary family planning as a cost-effective strategy to reduce poverty, conflict and environmental damage. If you think family planning is expensive, you haven't priced babies" (11/2).