Patrick van Rensburg
22 April 2005
column
Two different, recent newspaper items lead me, from their different angles and implications, to ask this question. One was a report on the collective work of a large number of experts in fields related to population and environment drawing attention to the possibility that the earth may not be able to sustain population growth beyond a certain point.
The other, in the Mail and Guardian, two weeks ago, asked if childbirth is an absolute right?
Childbirth is of course at the root of population growth or decline, so we need to think of all the circumstances resulting in either its increase or decrease.
I have noted before, in similar contexts, that the late Pope John Paul 2 took the view that every matrimonial act, as he put it, had to be open to the transmission of life. I am not aware that he made mention of such acts outside matrimony, as the Church considered these sinful, even though they happen, world wide, actually resulting in a high rate of childbirth.
I am, however, here concerned more with the socio-economic, political, cultural and scientific, rather than moral issues. Given our earth's finite resources, a point will come in terms of population growth, at which everyone's living standards, despite more actively farming the sea, and universal recycling, will take an ever-deepening dip. (We may of course be able to populate other planets if we can find air)!
The Mail and Guardian raises the question of morality but not in the same absolute terms of the late Pope, nor in specifically environmental terms.(We have yet to hear from BENEDICT 16, who was close to John Paul 2, but our Catholics may be worried about transmission of AIDS through unsafe sex).
Nicola Spurr, the author of the Childbirth item, quotes a bioethics professor at Wits University, which applies as much here as in South Africa: "Once one makes a decision to have a child, it's not morally neutral. It matters what you do during the pregnancy, because there is now an identifiable victim of any negative behaviour".
The professor argues further that although a libertarian constitutional framework (as here?) guarantees women's rights, "these need to be balanced with a responsibility to give newborn children 'a fair shot at life'".
Charles Ngwena, a constitutional law professor at the University of Free State, properly shoulders men with equal responsibiity, like modifying behaviour if HIV-positive, so as not to pass the virus on. "We cannot say that women should be morally responsible for passing HIV to their infants in a society where woman are disempowered and may not be knowledgeable about all the risks involved". We certainly cannot blame them alone!
Both men and women need to take responsibility for their behaviour and be aware of the possible negative effects of unsafe sex, says Prof Ngwenya.
The availability of Nevirapine does provide a redress for any negative consequences of unsafe sex but it means disclosure which prevented many women from declaring their HIV status before sexual intercourse, anyway.
I have the impression that Batswana are not generally concerned about population growth or pregnant teenagers. The population is relatively small in African terms, the country is big and seems to have many resources.
It has to be pointed out, however, that there is relatively substantial impoverishment already. Not all high school graduates find opportunities for further education and training, and insufficient jobs are available. As I wrote once, earlier, we have street kids, Aids orphans, school dropouts, etc.
Apart from Selebi Phikwe, there is relatively little atmospheric and ground pollution here, although there is erosion and veld dessication, and water is in short supply. But we must remember that any country's environment is not confined to its space on the ground. We need to be concerned as much about what our neighbours do as about what we do, and we need to recognise what happens in the wider world can affect our climate through what happens in the wider atmosphere and even in the currents of the seas. That's why Kyoto is so important to us all although Bush's regime refuses to honour it.
Fundamentally, we do not have a population growth policy: we simply accept that there will be natural growth for some time to come, and try to plan for it.
By and large, I am not sure that our planning is adequate, given the shortage of further education and training opportunities.
More important, however, is that we should be doing more, not in terms of a false morality, but in terms of the healthy growth and personal development of young girls, to keep teenage pregnancies in check.
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