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Birth control pill creator regrets population decline
ChristianTelegraph ^

Posted on 09/27/2009 8:38:35 AM PDT by Bushwacker777

" 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, reports Baptist Press.

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."

(Excerpt) Read more at christiantelegraph.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: articledate02082009; austria; birthcontrol; chemists; contraceptives; deathofthewest; djerassi; europe; omitteddate; regret; repost; seniors
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To: Bushwacker777
Djerassi's opinion on his creation, in 1999

MILLENNIUM JURY: There are always moral dimensions to scientific discoveries, Carl Djerassi, inventor of The Pill, tells Christian Tyler [1999]

I asked him: If you knew then what you know now about the effects of the Pill, would you have said 'I think we'll give this one a miss'?

"Absolutely not. I would do exactly the same again." As for the side-effects, he said, it was a case of Catch 22: the only way to test its long-term safety was to let women take it for years. His regret is that research into contraception has dried up, denying women a wider choice of methods.

And its effect on the sexual revolution?

"I would say it's a grey issue. It's simplistic to say the Pill caused it. There was rock and roll culture, and the rest of it.


21 posted on 09/27/2009 11:45:17 AM PDT by syriacus (Obama wants to "monologue" with us -- 24/7.)
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To: syriacus
Djerassi said, in 2000
'I would be in favour of the Pill being available without prescription. There is no medical reason why not. For healthy young women, oral contraceptives are of such low risk now I would make the case that they should be available over the counter.'

22 posted on 09/27/2009 11:50:00 AM PDT by syriacus (Obama wants to "monologue" with us -- 24/7.)
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To: syriacus
Forgot to provide the source for Djerassi's 2000 comment

I would be in favour of the Pill being available without prescription

23 posted on 09/27/2009 11:51:56 AM PDT by syriacus (Obama wants to "monologue" with us -- 24/7.)
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To: Bushwacker777

Like so many today, he was so busy figuring out if it could be done that he did not take the time to think if it should be done.


24 posted on 09/27/2009 11:56:48 AM PDT by mware (F-R-E-E, that spells free. Free Republic.com baby.)
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To: syriacus
Pill inventor slams ... pill [Catholic News, Jan. 2009]
25 posted on 09/27/2009 11:59:12 AM PDT by syriacus (Obama wants to "monologue" with us -- 24/7.)
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To: Bushwacker777
There are plenty of people on the planet now. A lowering of the population isn't a bad thing. The actual problem is that the population isn't going down across the board - developed nations where the population is stabilizing or going down are allowing themselves to be flooded by the refuges of third-world countries where the populations are not stable.

That's the problem.

26 posted on 09/27/2009 12:25:38 PM PDT by Psycho_Bunny (ALSO SPRACH ZEROTHUSTRA)
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To: Bushwacker777

Birth Control pills were not invented by this man ,, they were created in China about 2000 years ago using condensed (boiled/dried/powdered) urine from “male” public toilets turning it into pills using common clay to hold the powder rolled into pill form.

Likewise the IUD dates to Roman times .. small smooth pebbles were packed into the womans uterus through a hollow reed... just as today it sometimes failed .. probably the origin of the phrase “rocks in your head”.


27 posted on 09/27/2009 1:45:15 PM PDT by Neidermeyer
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To: Bushwacker777

Funny how that works out.


28 posted on 09/27/2009 3:14:13 PM PDT by TASMANIANRED (TAZ:Untamed, Unpredictable, Uninhibited.)
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To: Bushwacker777

He may have some regrets, that’s understandable. But look, he invented a tool. He moved human knowledge ahead and inspired much further research. The real fruit of human hormone research will be coming within most of our lifetimes, I think, and it will be good. His work was critical to it.

He should be happy with his work, it was a blessing to all — even if it was disruptive, that was not his account.


29 posted on 09/27/2009 3:18:04 PM PDT by bvw
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To: Neidermeyer

Interesting history, but false. Things are constantly invented. By people in various places in various times — as Solomon said, there’s nothing new under the sun. But give the man his due — he did apply his time and energy and it produced a good fruit.


30 posted on 09/27/2009 3:20:12 PM PDT by bvw
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To: bvw
it was a blessing to all

Except for the babies who ended up being aborted as a result of it or the women who suffered from the adverse side effects; stroke, heart attack, cancer, etc.

If you characterize that as a blessing you have your head up your dirt chute.

31 posted on 09/27/2009 4:37:56 PM PDT by A.A. Cunningham (Barry Soetoro is a Kenyan communist)
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To: Bushwacker777
Pill creator regrets population decline
32 posted on 09/27/2009 4:39:45 PM PDT by A.A. Cunningham (Barry Soetoro is a Kenyan communist)
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