Posted on 02/06/2009 9:45:49 AM PST by Between the Lines
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--A chemist who led to the invention of the birth control pill says he regrets the demographic catastrophe that has resulted from people using the contraceptive device to separate reproduction from sexuality.
Carl Djerassi, the 85-year-old Austrian chemist who was one of three whose formulation of synthetic hormones paved the way for the pill, wrote an opinion piece in the Austrian newspaper Der Standard lamenting the way the pill has been used.
Austria's population now includes more people over age 65 than under 15, and Djerassi said the country soon will face an "impossible situation" as the working class becomes too small to support the needs of senior citizens. Each family in Austria needs to produce three children to maintain population levels, he said, but on average couples have 1.4 children.
The fall in the birth rate in European countries, he said, is an epidemic far worse than obesity, but it receives less attention.
In order to curb the population problem, Djerassi said in the column that Austrians would have to adopt quickly an immigration policy designed to counteract the effects of widespread contraception before the population commits "national suicide."
R. Albert Mohler Jr., in a 2006 New York Times Magazine article, called the birth control pill one of the most profound developments ever.
"I cannot imagine any development in human history, after the Fall, that has had a greater impact on human beings than the pill," Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said. "It became almost an assured form of contraception, something humans had never encountered before in history.
"Prior to it, every time a couple had sex, there was a good chance of pregnancy. Once that is removed, the entire horizon of the sexual act changes. I think there could be no question that the pill gave incredible license to everything from adultery and affairs to premarital sex and within marriage to a separation of the sex act and procreation," Mohler added.
Mollie Ziegler, a Gannett newspaper reporter, noted on the blog GetReligion.org that Djerassi's comments, made in December, have failed to make mainstream headlines in the United States.
"U.S. media tend to be a bit American-centric ... but just because this story broke in Austria is no reason to ignore it here," she wrote. "And no matter where Djerassi dropped his bombshell allegation or where he lives, how many millions of women here in the United States have used oral contraceptives and might be interested in something their creator has to say about its unintended consequences? There's just no news justification for obscuring this story."
Mohler, writing in a May 2006 article on his website, said some versions of the birth control pill have abortifacient qualities.
"Not all birth control is contraception, for some technologies and methods do not prevent the sperm from fertilizing the egg, but instead prevent the fertilized egg from successfully implanting itself in the lining of the womb," he said. "Such methods involve nothing less than an early abortion. This is true of all IUDs and some hormonal technologies. A raging debate now surrounds the question of whether at least some forms of the Pill may also work through abortifacient effect, rather than preventing ovulation."
I wonder if the ChiCom government feels the same way ????
Mr. Djerassi’s “Doh! Moment”.
Margaret Sanger is laughing from the grave. This is exactly the outcome she wanted.
Oh well that’s alright then.
The pill could be what destroys us, makes our civilization end with a great whimper, and he’s sorry.
Gee, thanks Carl.
Instead of birth control, the pill seems to have led to an explosion of births and illegitimate babies and many tens of millions of abortions.
If a pill for men is invented it will result in fewer pregnancies (true birth control)and women becoming more prudent and desperate for sexual morality.
>>>Austria’s population now includes more people over age 65 than under 15, and Djerassi said the country soon will face an “impossible situation”...
The USA would be willing to step up and donate our illegal population. Matter of fact, we will be extra generous and through in a whole bunch of politicans.
The "pill" just allows us to have more room for the 1.2 million legal immigrants and 500,000 illegal aliens who enter this country annually. And the Hispanic birth rate is double the general population's rate. If immigration continues at current levels, the nation’s population will increase from 305 million today to 468 million in 2060 — a 163 million (56 percent) increase. Immigrants plus their descendents will account for 105 million (63 percent) of the increase.
By 2050, the US will add 135 million with most coming from immigration.
The Greens don’t really care about the environment because they don’t touch the immigration issue. We would have ZPG or close to it if it were not for immigration and the birthrate of recent immigrants.
Plus the new immigrants care less about the environment than those nasty ole Anglo people.
Some of those Whites now promote higher birthrates so as to compete against the immigrant tide.
The Greens are so out of it.
Chemical engineering bump for later.......
“....But after we get over the hump and the old folks born before birth control was widely in use die off things are going to go back to normal.”
What the hell is “normal” to you? You argue like a member of the Zero Population Group, not a conservative.
The problem is far bigger than the pill. It’s that society has devalued traditional family life and the blessings - yes, that’s right - the BLESSINGS of children. The children who are born today are often neglected, abused while both parents pursue the Almighty Dollar, or they’re in single family homes trying to survive despite great odds, the children are not being raised knowing right vs wrong, they aren’t going to church or synagogue anymore to learn there is a God who loves them, they’re having their own babies out of wedlock when they grow to be teenagers, etc.
With nothing to stop those trends the situation will never be “normal” ever again, no matter what the population numbers happen to be.
Ahh that Law of Unintended Consequences, ain’t it a bitch!
I've always had a suspicion the above is what Republican politicians are thinking, though not saying, when they embrace amnesty for illegal aliens here in the U.S.
If you capitalize the word White, some folks will accuse you of racism and hate crimes.
Bully for you.
What Sanger wanted was the U.S. to resemble a Scandinavian country. A small, wealthy, homogenous White population, an “enlightened” utopia free from those pesky working class Whites, Blacks, and all other shades of people. She actually wouldn’t like these “White” countries going belly up.
“...Bully for you.”
Ha! The more lib PCness triumphs the more roughhouse redneckese I prefer to speak.
Perhaps you meant to say 'stabilize' or 'reach a new norm'. Until recently it has never been "normal" to maintain small families through the mass use of abortions and contraceptives.
And, to feel free to abort the unborn if birth control slipped up.
It turned us into murderers of our young.
...AND NANCY PEOLSI’S REPLY?
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