[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 116 (Tuesday, July 18, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1456-E1457]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


    INTRODUCTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL POPULATION STABILIZATION AND 
                        REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH ACT

                                 ______


                       HON. ANTHONY C. BEILENSON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 18, 1995
  Mr. BEILENSON. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of myself and Mrs. Morella, I 
am introducing a bill today to address the rapid growth of the world's 
population in a comprehensive manner. Our bill, which has also been 
introduced in the Senate by Senators Simpson and Bingaman, would make 
the goal of population stabilization, along with the improvement in 
health of women and children, a primary purpose of U.S. foreign policy.
  We are introducing this legislation because we believe strongly that 
the United States must take determined action to address what is 
without a doubt the most urgent crisis facing humanity: The rapid rate 
of growth of the human population and its dire consequences for the 
environment, for food supplies, for overcrowding, for immigration 
pressures, for political stability, and for our own national security.
  Global population is now nearly 5.7 billion, and it is growing by 
almost 100 million every year--by 260,000 every 24 hours. Future 
prospects, moreover, are even more staggering. If effective action is 
not taken in the next few years--as today's 1.6 billion children in the 
developing world under the age of 15 reach their childbearing year--the 
Earth's population could nearly quadruple to 20 billion people by the 
end of the next century.
  In much of the developing world, high birth rates, caused largely by 
the lack of access of women to basic reproductive health services and 
information, are contributing to intractable poverty, malnutrition, 
widespread unemployment, urban overcrowding, and the rapid spread of 
disease. Population growth is outstripping the capacity of many nations 
to make even modest gains in economic development, leading to political 
instability and negating other U.S. development efforts.
  The impact of exponential population growth, combined with 
unsustainable patterns of consumption, is also evident in mounting 
signs of stress on the world's environment. Under conditions of rapid 
population growth, renewable resources are being used faster than they 
can be replaced. Other environmental consequences of the world's 
burgeoning population are tropical deforestation, erosion of arable 
land and watersheds, extinction of plant and animal species, and 
pollution of air, water and land.
  Overpopulation, however, is not a problem for lesser developed 
countries only. Rapid population growth in already overcrowded and 
underdeveloped areas of the world has given rise to an unprecedented 
pressure to migrate, as workers seek decent, and more hopeful lives for 
themselves and their families. According to a recent report by the 
United Nations Population Fund [UNFPA], over 100 million people, or 
nearly 2 percent of the world's population, are international migrants, 
and countless others are refugees within their own countries. Many of 
the world's industrialized nations are now straining to absorb huge 
numbers of people, and in the future, as shortages 

[[Page E 1457]]
of jobs and living space in urban areas, and resources such as water, 
agricultural land, and new places to dispose of waste grow even more 
acute, there will be even greater pressure to emigrate.
  For those of us from Los Angeles and other coastal urban areas that 
are magnets for immigrants, world population growth is not an abstract 
issue--it is one that, quite literally, has been laid right at our 
doorstep. Communities in Los Angeles County, when enormous numbers of 
both legal and illegal immigrants are settling, are being overwhelmed 
by the burden of providing educational, health, and social services for 
the newcomers. And the problem will get bigger: Largely because of 
immigration, California's population is expected to grow from 31 
million, where it stood in 1990, to 63 million by the year 2020.
  Time is of the essence. How quickly we provide worldwide access to 
family planning and reproductive health services is crucial. Like 
compound interest applied to financial savings, high fertility rates 
produce ever-growing future populations. For example, if a woman bears 
three children instead of six, and her children and
 grandchildren do likewise, she will have 27 great-grandchildren rather 
than 216. Likewise, if Nigeria, which now has 109 million people, 
reaches replacement fertility by 2010 rather than 2040 (as currently 
projected), its eventual population would be 341 million, rather than 
617 million. Thus, what we achieve in the way of making comprehensive 
family planning and reproductive health services available in this 
decade will determine whether world population stabilizes at double 
today's level or at triple that level--or more.

  Population growth is an enormous problem, but one we can solve--if we 
make a determined effort to do so. For almost 30 years, population 
assistance has been a central component of U.S. development assistance 
and, in that time, has been remarkably successful in lowering birth 
rates. In many parts of Asia, Latin America and Africa, fertility rates 
have decreased, often dramatically. Couples are succeeding in having 
the smaller families they want because of the greater availability of 
contraceptives that our assistance has made possible.
  Today, approximately 55 percent of couples worldwide use modern 
methods of contraception, compared with 10 percent in the 1960's. But 
despite this impressive increase in contraceptive use, the demand for 
family planning services is growing, in large measure because 
populations are growing. Indeed, over the next 20 years, the number of 
women and men who wish to use contraception is expected to nearly 
double.
  Similarly, population assistance has contributed to the significant 
progress that has been made in reducing infant and child mortality 
rates. Child survival is integrally linked to women's reproductive 
health, and specifically to a mother's timing, spacing and number of 
births. But despite substantial progress, a large proportion of 
children in the developing world--particularly in sub-Saharan Africa 
and some Asian countries--still die in infancy.
  And, while many countries in the developing world have succeeded in 
reducing maternal mortality rates, the incidence of maternal death and 
disability remains unacceptably high, constituting a serious public 
health problem facing most developing countries. According to the World 
Health Organization, an estimated 500,000 women die every year as a 
result of pregnancy and childbirth.
  At the International Conference on Population and Development [ICPD], 
held in Cairo last year, the United States was instrumental in building 
a broad consensus behind a comprehensive Program of Action, which was 
signed by almost all of the 180 countries that participated in the 
conference, and which will help guide the population and development 
programs of the United Nations and national governments into the next 
century.
  The International Population Stabilization and Reproductive Health 
Act is consistent with the goals and the recommendations of the ICPD: 
It lays the foundation for focusing U.S. foreign policy on a 
coordinated strategy that will bring about the widespread availability 
of contraceptive services and women's and child health programs, as 
well as educational, economic, social and political opportunities 
necessary to enhance the status of women.
  The bill we are introducing today sets specific health objectives, 
program descriptions, and funding targets to guide U.S. population 
programs, and expands U.S. efforts for the treatment and prevention of 
AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
  This legislation also increases the U.S. commitment to providing for 
universal access to basic education, with an emphasis on eliminating 
the gap between female and male literacy levels and school enrollment, 
and promoting equal opportunities for women. Initiatives to increase 
infant and child survival, as well as to ensure the health and safety 
of pregnant women, are included as a critical component to achieving 
the bill's goals.
  In addition, our bill expresses support for the United Nations 
Forward Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women, as adopted in 
1985 by the United Nations Conference ending the Decade of Women, and 
for the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the 
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which was 
signed by the United States in 1980.
  Mr. Speaker, our Nation's interest is clear. There can be no doubt 
that combating rapid population growth is one of the most humane, 
farsighted and economically effective efforts we can undertake. Every 
additional dollar spent on these programs will save many times this 
expense in future U.S. foreign assistance. According to UNICEF, 
``family planning could bring more benefits to more people at less cost 
than any other `technology' now available.''
  For all these reasons, we believe that population assistance should 
be a central feature of U.S. foreign policy, and we urge our colleagues 
to join us in supporting this legislation for that purpose.


                          ____________________