Hey Slate: We Still Exist! Here's What We're About

On Friday, Slate.com reporter Emily Bazelon wrote a post about a confusing quote made by Ruth Bader Ginsburg three years ago. Bazelon might have cleared up what Bader Ginsburg said, but it certainly didn't do anything to clear up Population Connection's position on population growth, women's rights and social justice! President John Seager straightens things out here:

By John Seager
President, Population Connection

It was nice to see Slate clear up some misunderstandings about Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s views on abortion and feminism (Talking to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Oct. 19). Unfortunately, the explanation might have engendered some new misunderstandings – about my organization.

First of all, Zero Population Growth didn’t disappear with the VW buses and Birkenstocks. We still exist – both as a nonprofit organization and a movement. We’re now called Population Connection, and the movement is centered on expanding human rights – making sure every person who wants it has access to voluntary family planning, fighting for social justice and protecting the planet we all depend upon. We are a pro-choice organization not out of some drive to reduce “certain populations,” but because we support women’s rights. Period.

However, two things have changed since the heyday of interest in population growth. Number one: The world’s population has nearly doubled. Number two: Nobody wants to talk about it. Any suggestion that the planet has limits tends to brand one as some sort of eugenicist, as Jonah Goldberg so ably demonstrated.

Currently, our Earth’s population stands at more than 7 billion. Count noses in 1974, and there were 4 billion of us. The United Nations projects that by 2050, we could have anywhere from 8.1 billion (if contraception access is expanded) to 10.6 billion.

Perhaps that eye-popping number wouldn’t be an issue if it weren’t for several inconvenient truths. One is that growth in agriculture yields is not keeping pace with population growth – meaning a lot more hungry people in the future. Another is that clean water is already a scarce commodity in many areas experiencing rapid population growth.

The third is that women around the world still lack the basic ability to decide on the trajectory of their own lives. That’s wrong, and it needs to change.

Around 222 million women in the developing world want to delay or end childbearing but lack access to contraception. In the United States, nearly every other pregnancy is unplanned. Those unplanned pregnancies that result in births have lasting consequences far beyond overtaxed resources. Women drop out of school. Their health is compromised. Their potential earnings diminish. Their families struggle. Entire economies are affected when only half of us – the male half – are able to reach our full potential and achieve our dreams.

We can change that. And that’s what Population Connection – Zero Population Growth – fights for.

So yes, Bader Ginsburg is right. There was a group called Zero Population Growth in the 1970s. And we’re still around today. By simply ensuring that every woman who wants to avoid pregnancy can do so, we can help our population peak at a billion more than we have today. And that’s good news, not just for women, but for all of us who share this little planet.

It’s not controversial. It’s common sense.

John Seager is President of Population Connection, formerly known as Zero Population Growth. The organization’s website is populationconnection.org.

Contraception: It's the Economics, Stupid

By Amy Phillips Bursch, Media Relations Manager

Here’s something a lot of people just don’t seem to get: Access to contraception is an economic issue. It’s not a “social issue.” It’s not a “women’s issue.” It’s certainly not a “religious issue.” It is, fundamentally, an economic issue.

Women pay a premium. (TheeErin/Flickr)

Men are lucky (in more ways than one, you could argue.) While a partner’s unplanned pregnancy might shake up their lives a little bit, the effect is entirely different for women. An unplanned pregnancy can turn a woman’s world upside down and shake it so hard, pieces fall off. Sperm unintentionally meets egg, and her entire life’s plan could be erased.

Dreams of getting that high school degree? Done.

Dreams of being the first person in her family to get a college education? Gone.

Plans to start a business? Unless you’re wealthy, don’t count on it.

That promotion she’s always wanted? No good. She wasn’t chosen, because she’s a mother.

Each of these decisions isn’t just a “life choice.” They have economic consequences.

According to Ann Crittenden’s “The Price of Motherhood,” college-educated women in the United States lose $1 MILLION in income over their lives when they have a child. Other research shows that higher-skilled women forfeit up to a third of their potential lifetime earnings if they decide to have children. Lower-skilled women forfeit up to 14 percent of their earnings. This isn’t a small amount.

Meanwhile, for years, women have paid up to 50% more for their health insurance, and many policies have refused to cover contraception while covering drugs for men, such as Viagra. The Affordable Care Act should change that, but a number of employers are suing to avoid covering birth control for their employees. How that will turn out is anyone’s guess.

Of course, a favorite conservative argument is that if women would just keep their legs closed, then it wouldn’t be an issue. Apparently, it’s the duty of women to divorce themselves from the sexual aspect of their humanity in order to have any shot at economic equality. I getcha.

When a lot of women weigh the costs, they decide that it’s worth it. They want to become mothers. I salute them. It’s not easy giving up so much for a job that’s unpaid, often thankless, and never ends.

But for those women who don’t want kids, or who want to delay having them in order to finish school or start careers, contraception is not “slut pills.” It’s their ticket to dream big, dare often, and accomplish just as much and be compensated as well as the guy in the office next door.

And that’s not a small thing. It’s everything.

We're "Values Voters" Too!

By Amy Phillips Bursch, Media Relations Manager

This weekend in Washington marks the Values Voter Summit – a yearly conservative conference marked by speeches, panel discussions and seminars. There’s no shortage of hot rhetoric about how only right-wingers have “values.”

Horsefeathers.

Just because liberal values are different from conservative values doesn’t mean we have no values. We have lots of values! We’re especially fond of equality. Personal freedom. Justice. Compassion. Taking care of the planet. Those are rock-solid all-American values right there. So pass the apple pie!

Freedom, equality and justice are American values. (Micky/Flickr)

In fact, I’d make the argument that we’re the REAL “values voters.” Here’s why:

Family planning saves lives. While conservatives fight to make contraception harder to get, we know the truth: Family planning is good for women, children, communities and whole nations.

Banning abortion doesn’t end abortion. At the same time they're cracking down on contraception access, conservatives have fought to make abortion harder to get through a series of laws at the state level. But outlawing abortion doesn’t end abortion. It just means more women die from unsafe, illegal abortions. Standing by and letting women die doesn't sound like very good values to me.

Women deserve equal opportunities. While conservatives like to talk about how important women are, much of the talk seems to be about women’s ability to become mothers and housewives. There’s nothing at all wrong with mothers and housewives – one raised me! But women should NOT be limited based on their biology. Women should pursue what makes them happy, whether it’s raising kids, or rocket engineering.

Protecting the planet for future generations is our sacred duty. You’d think that “conservatives” would be into conservation – but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. Climate change denial is only part of the story. Some conservatives seem ready to reject clean energy altogether.

So while the “Values Voters” have their weekend in the spotlight, don’t forget that we also have values. Awesome values. Let’s work to reclaim the word!