[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 22]
[Senate]
[Pages 30663-30664]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          POPULATION EXPLOSION

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about developing 
countries around the world that are dealing with population explosions. 
As we near the end of the year, we are trying to wrap things up before 
the Senate goes out of session. But we continue to ignore this 
important issue.
  This topic does not get very much attention here on the Senate floor, 
but in the developing world, there is a population explosion. Some 
experts believe that the population of Earth may top 9 billion by 2050. 
Eighty-eight percent of Americans believe that international population 
growth is either a major problem right now or that it will become one 
in the future. Almost all of the growth is occurring in countries that 
are the least able to govern, ensure jobs for, and care for their 
citizens.
  But this is also about safe access to health care for women. Even 
though these countries are experiencing huge population growths, 
hundreds of thousands of women are dying each year from complications 
from pregnancy. These women do not have access to the health care that 
they need, especially reproductive health care.
  In many poor countries around the world, nongovernmental 
organizations and medical professionals are working to make things 
better. They have set up clinics and reached out to the women and 
families in poor communities. They are doing great work. But their 
hands are tied because the Bush administration has imposed a political 
ideology on the world.
  When President Bush took office in 2001, he signed an Executive order 
known as the global gag rule. It denies U.S. funds to any overseas 
health clinic unless it agrees not to use its own private, non-U.S. 
funds for anything related to abortion. What that means, is that if you 
are a medical professional living in an impoverished country trying to 
help people and save their lives, you are gagged from even talking 
about certain reproductive health services. The gag rule places limits 
on women and doctors that we would never accept here in the United 
States.
  Earlier this year, the Senate passed an amendment to the Foreign 
Affairs Authorization Act to reverse the President's policy and ensure 
that health care clinics for women and families receive this much-
needed funding. Unfortunately, this legislation has not passed by the 
full Senate. I am pleased that the Foreign Operations appropriations 
bill contains $34 million for the United Nations Populations Fund, 
UNPA, for this purpose. But in order to ensure that this money goes 
toward funding health care clinics for women and families in poor 
countries, we must overturn this global gag rule.
  In closing, I would like to share the following article, which ran on 
December 3, 2005, with my colleagues because I believe that it provides 
some important food for thought as we continue to work on this 
important issue.
  I ask unanimous consent that my remarks and the following article be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                Does Population Explosion Threaten U.S.?

                           (By David Horsey)

       Flying in or out of Mexico City, the traveler can look down 
     on the human sprawl metastasizing in every direction. The 
     Mexican megalopolis is now home to 25 million people and vies 
     for first place among the world's most gigantic cities. From 
     a bird's eye view, it's easy to conclude that the planet has 
     more than enough homo sapiens taking up space.
       Having just flown back from a study tour in Mexico that 
     focused on issues of overpopulation, family planning and 
     development, I can report positive news on the population 
     front. In the developed world, population growth has been put 
     in check. Birth rates are roughly at replacement levels and 
     no higher.
       An even better story is Mexico. Not that long ago, the 
     Mexican population was spiraling out of control with an 
     average seven children per family. The population doubled 
     between 1950 and 1970 and doubled again by the end of the 
     20th century. Today, though, thanks in large part to 
     government commitment and successful family-planning 
     measures, the fertility rate has dropped to about

[[Page 30664]]

     2.1, putting Mexico on track to see a leveling off of 
     population by 2015.
       However, this good news is qualified by a disturbing 
     caveat. The successes of recent years have created 
     complacency. Some people think the population bomb has been 
     defused while in reality only the easier part of the job has 
     been done.
       In the developing world, the numbers continue to explode. 
     Earth's current human population of 6.5 billion may top 9 
     billion by 2050 and 99 percent of the growth will be in the 
     least developed nations. If these countries fail to follow 
     Mexico's path, calamity may be just around the corner. In the 
     regions of the world that are the most poor and the least 
     able to care for, employ or govern their rapidly expanding 
     populations, widespread famine, environmental destruction and 
     social collapse are inevitable.
       Most countries have reached agreement on what needs to be 
     done to avert such disaster, but, in recent years, the United 
     States has been a maverick on the population issue. The 
     politics of abortion and religion have given current leaders 
     reason to act as if it is not our problem.
       Is this an area where self-interest and traditional values 
     dictate that we let less fortunate countries find a way to 
     cope on their own? Here's my Burning Question:
       Is the developing world's population explosion a threat to 
     America?

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