Access to family planning would allow these mothers to space and time the births of their children, helping to reduce maternal and infant mortality. These high mortality rates notwithstanding, the overall effect of the lack of family planning services for the women of the third world is an increase in population. The quantity of young people entering their reproductive years, the greatest number in human history, ensures a swelling in global population. Reproductive health services for these individuals will make a critical difference in the rate of population growth in the years to come. The high mortality rate, along with a high birth rate and swelling population, spells heartbreak for many living in the poorest nations - heartbreak for the human population and the environment.
People destroy rain forests in their search for food and fuel.
In Africa, a burgeoning market for bushmeat, finds primates on the menu. Elephants in Asia are displaced from their territories, or killed, as land comes under cultivation to feed the increasing numbers of people. The United States can help alleviate the human suffering and environmental degradation by sending generous amounts of family planning aid to the nations so desperately in need. Yet, with one of his first acts after taking office, President George W. Bush reinstated the so-called global gag rule. Under the gag rule, foreign non-governmental family planning organizations may not receive U.S. funds if, with their own money, they provide, or lobby to provide, abortion services.