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Scientists’ Warning: Remove the Barriers to Contraception Access, for Health of Women and the Planet

Author

Listed:
  • Jan Greguš

    (Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic
    Center for Outpatient Gynecology and Primary Care, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic
    Center for Prenatal Diagnostics, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic)

  • John Guillebaud

    (Faculty of Population Health Sciences, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK)

Abstract

The human population reached 8 billion in 2022 and is still growing, and will possibly peak at 10.4 billion in 2086. Environmental science mandates that continued growth of the human enterprise on a finite planet is unsustainable and already in overshoot. Indeed, 3 billion is an evidence-based target number, for our species in competition with all non-human life-forms. We must achieve zero population growth and, ultimately, a massive decrease. Commonly, even among environmentalists who are not “population-deniers”, human numbers are seen as a given, to be adapted to rather than influenced or managed. Yet, just and appropriate interventions exist. The fundamental requirement is the empowerment of women, removing the barriers in many settings to their education (including environmental education, and the reproductive ethics of smaller families) and to realistic, voluntary access to contraception. Wherever “reproductive health” includes access to rights-based family planning, this not only promotes the health of the planet but also women’s health through, inter alia, their choice to have fewer and better-spaced children. This is ethical, pragmatic, and cost-effective—a prime example of preventive medicine. Politicians (mostly men) everywhere must embrace this long-term thinking and significantly increase the currently inadequate funding of contraceptive care. Herein is another Scientists’ Warning: there is just one planet for all life.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan Greguš & John Guillebaud, 2023. "Scientists’ Warning: Remove the Barriers to Contraception Access, for Health of Women and the Planet," World, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-9, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jworld:v:4:y:2023:i:3:p:36-597:d:1236969
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Haydn Washington & Helen Kopnina, 2022. "Discussing the Silence and Denial around Population Growth and Its Environmental Impact. How Do We Find Ways Forward?," World, MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-19, December.
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