Pope's Annual Peace Address Condemns Efforts To Reduce Birth Rates In Developing Countries

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;  Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 15 Dec 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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Pope Benedict XVI in his annual peace message on Thursday attacked campaigns in some developing countries that are aimed at limiting birth rates to help economic development, particularly campaigns that he said promote abortions, Reuters reports. In his message, "Fighting Poverty To Build Peace," the pope criticized international campaigns to reduce birth rates that he said "sometimes [use] methods that respect neither the dignity of the woman, nor the right of parents to choose responsibly how many children to have." He added, "Graver still, these methods often fail to respect even the right to life. The extermination of millions of unborn children, in the name of the fight against poverty, actually constitutes the destruction of the poorest of all human beings." Population growth does not necessarily lead to increased poverty in a country, Benedict said, adding that developed nations with the highest birth rates "enjoy better opportunities for development" and that "population is proving to be an asset, not a factor that contributes to poverty."

The pope's message -- which traditionally is sent to heads of state, government and international organizations -- also called for disarmament, a fight against child poverty and world hunger, and a "common code of ethics" to narrow the gap between high- and low-income countries in the world (Pullella, Reuters, 12/11). According to the AP/Yahoo! News, Benedict said that modern popes' social teachings consistently have concerned the poor and that globalization has broadened these social questions into international issues (Simpson, AP/Yahoo! News, 12/11).

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