The Birth Control Solution

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/opinion/kristof-the-birth-control-solution.html?_r=1&ref=nicholasdkristof

The world population has been growing exponentially, much faster than the U.N. has estimated. Overpopulation has led to many of the world's problems that we hear about today such as "conflict and terrorism," "global poverty," and "climate change." Kristof proposes women's education, particularly about family planning and birth control, as the solution to overpopulation because research has shown that better educated women are more likely to be open to contraceptives and have fewer children. Opposition to contraception in the U.S. due to China's and India's radical population policies has increased among religious conservatives, so funding for global family planning programs and for research on more effective, less expensive contraceptives has decreased. Because contraceptives decrease the number of pregnancies, not the amount of sex, less family planning education and contraceptives will only cause "more abortions and more women dying in childbirth" in developing countries. It is vital that Americans prevent political ties and church dogma from restricting family planning when women's education and options are such an important part of the solution to several world problems.