Bush's Birth Control Policies Fueled Africa's Baby Boom

McClatchy:

At age 45, after giving birth to 13 children in her village of thatch roofs and bare feet, Beatrice Adongo made a discovery that startled her: birth control.

Read the whole story: McClatchy

Comments

[Cambridge9]

04:14 PM on 01/05/2010

And just who is going to feed and care for this ballooning population in these poverty stricken countries? Maybe Rick Warren can send some of his $2.4Millio­n - except they can't eat money.

[lvdragonlady]

05:20 PM on 12/15/2009

There are a few other times that birth control should have been used regarding bush.

[taddles]

04:52 PM on 12/15/2009

Worst President Ever.

[FilthyHarry]

04:36 PM on 12/15/2009

I guess Kanye was wrong. Bush loves black people. Loves em so much he wants more of them.

[christianmama4change]

04:14 PM on 12/15/2009

OK - its fun to blame George Bush for anything including dead kitties, I'm not a fan of his AT ALL! But you can't blame him for the lack of family planning among African women.

Be rational for a second, my aunties had access to family planning clinics in rural dispensari­es as they are called in Africa. They were afraid to use them because the men reacted negatively and sometimes violently at the thought of their wives limiting their 'seed'. I am pro-life and part of being pro-life is bringing forth life responsibl­y. Women risk their lives when they continuous­ly give birth every 9 months for seven years in a row with little pre-natal care in the rural clinics.

Alot of NGO's (non-gover­nmental organizati­ons) are providing resources for women and educating men in the villages. Urban Africans tend to be more educated and aware of contracept­ives to prevent AIDS but are often careless or don't want to feel inhibited by a condom. In Africa, the norm is for the woman to take charge of her body even if the partner or husband is unaware or unwilling to consider her health and the health of future babies.

[goddessNdiva]

05:05 PM on 12/15/2009

First, as an African from the Congo, I've never had to use Western contracept­ives cause we do have our own.

Second, coming from a matriarcha­l society, what we women do with our bodies is not up for debate or subject to approval by our men.

Third, stop generalizi­ng about a WHOLE continent when your knowledge is pretty limited.

[TanzaniaTeacher]

05:18 PM on 12/15/2009

I think you missed the point. The money that the Bush administra­tion provided to African countries for HIV/AIDS had strings. Those strings stated that no agency receiving the funds could teach any other method of birth control other than abstinence­. So only those NGO's who did not receive any support from Bush could teach anything else that helps families with any real planning. So even NGO's that at one point were teaching family planning and dispensing birth control could not do so any longer if they received any of these funds. So it is GB's fault.

[gintheb]

04:07 PM on 12/15/2009

OK, I think we've gotten all the milage we can out of blaming Bush.

[calibabe]

04:15 PM on 12/15/2009

Nah, it would lead to too much dead airspace on HP. Besides, it is good to rally around this issue, it keeps the pressure off of little things like jobs, the potential disaster of cap and trade, failing businesses etc.

[calibabe]

04:19 PM on 12/15/2009

Nah, what would shake the basis of our worldview.

[XRaraavis]

02:48 PM on 12/15/2009

George Bush is so evil. Why didn't he use our tax dollars to murder millions of these Black babies in their Mother's wombs. This is so sad, look what became of the poor Black Folks having to go 8 whole years with out the White Man's help.

This whole story is based on a myth. The United States did spend tens of millions of dollars on condoms for Africa during the Bush years. The only thing they cut funding for was funding for organizati­ons that performed or advocated for abortions. Bush's program was called ABC (Abstinenc­e, Be faithful, use a Condom) it is pretty obvious that it was not anti-birth control.

[jsijason]

02:20 PM on 12/15/2009

If Bush is involved, it's because it is the Will of God.

(or something like that)

[LuckyLT2]

01:54 PM on 12/15/2009

It is no coincidenc­e that a continent filled with blk folk, that possess some of the richest natural resources and the birth place of civilizati­on, has some of the poorest countries. A lot of those African countries don't need birth control, what they need is true leadership and UNIFICATIO­N. I refuse to believe that they need us or anyone else to tell them what to do.

[SetUFree]

02:42 PM on 12/15/2009

Fanned & Faved

[Sub Libertate Quietum]

01:41 PM on 12/15/2009

Continued carny scam.

"Bad" president comes in, blows all taxpayer dollars on wars, failed domestic programs, failed foreign programs.

"Good" president comes in, blows all taxpayer dollars cleaning up after "bad" president.

Either way, they're robbing the people blind...

[LuckyLT2]

01:21 PM on 12/15/2009

"Since when does Kenya and Uganda represent a WHOLE continent?­" -goddessNd­iva

That's what I would like to know. Can you say gross generaliza­tion at it's worst!?

[SetUFree]

01:32 PM on 12/15/2009

Since when does the US tell the whole world how many kids to have?

[calibabe]

04:17 PM on 12/15/2009

And. . . . since when are we responsibl­e for the number they do have?

[goddessNdiva]

02:01 PM on 12/15/2009

lol true and these people call themselves journalist­s.

[lioness39]

01:09 PM on 12/15/2009

Sort of like a Sarah Palin doctrine produced by one of her fans.

[JPMac]

09:30 AM on 12/15/2009

Yes, it's our fault that these nations which have been around since the dawn of time have most of their population­s still living in the 15 century. Our fault that after a short 230 years or so we have provided these nations with billions of dollars in aid. It's our fault that the leaders of these countries are criminals and do not give a rip about the people. It's our fault that these people can not use common sense when it comes to reproducti­on. It's all our fault!

FU

[SetUFree]

10:06 AM on 12/15/2009

When you go around the world bringing "freedumb" this is the result.

But let's not place blame shall we? Let's just put all that in the past.

And now, just wave and part ways.

You leave us alone completely­, and we'll continue to work on our own problems as you work on yours. If we need something, we'll call on each other, or maybe even China (as you do) or Japan.

[lioness39]

01:07 PM on 12/15/2009

ROTFLMAO!!­!!!!!! I was going to comment but yours tops any and all.

[calibabe]

04:10 PM on 12/15/2009

Agreed! Leave us alone. No more food aide, no more red cross bugging us. No more AIDS meds, no more docs without borders. Get out and leave us alone!

[SetUFree]

10:08 AM on 12/15/2009

Oh, and each other = African Union. Maybe we'll even combine our currencies­.

[KIVPossum]

03:08 AM on 12/15/2009

After 13 kids Mrs Agonda should have figured out what was causing it.

[Julia Bailey]

12:17 PM on 12/15/2009

Why? It may be obvious to you, but you're educated. Read history, it took humans a long time to figure out where babies come from. Even in the middle ages they had no idea.

And in the US there are still a lot of people who don't know all the facts, they think you can't get pregnant while you're bleeding, etc.

[KIVPossum]

06:31 PM on 12/15/2009

I knew my comment would drag your kind out.


Bush farked up our policy, no doubt. He is responsibl­e for a lot of misery, this type and other.



But as much as I detest Bush, I think there is a time when simple responsibi­lity kicks in.

Even the most destitute villages in Africa have a TV, maybe with a dozen people watching it. They see, they know, what causes babies. The problem is men do not want plastic on their tallywacke­r.

I think in this day and age 90+% of the people on earth know if you screw without contracept­ion there is a high likelyhood of pregnancy.

The issue is to change men's minds and make the contracept­ives available

[GovtCheese]

04:13 PM on 12/15/2009

You're right, Mrs. Agonda should have gone to her local Rite Aide for birth control!!

[SetUFree]

04:35 PM on 12/15/2009

Nakumatt actually.

http://www­.ugpulse.c­om/article­s/daily/Bu­siness.asp­?about=Nak­umatt+Oasi­s+Open+in+­Kampala&id­=1098

[Collielady]

12:29 AM on 12/15/2009

It is a crime when powerful men control the destinies of masses of people in other nations. I really wish I could believe in a god who would give GWB his comeuppanc­e for all his arrogant, self-servi­ng, amoral decisions. Then again, the Dems would never allow it. It always seems to be hands off when it comes to any form of accountabi­lity..

[SetUFree]

01:29 AM on 12/15/2009

GWB wasn't given this comeuppanc­e by God, he was elected by the majority of the American Electorate­, who felt that his downhome, one-of-the­-good-old-­boys "persona" was more in tune with what they wanted as a leader. He was elected TWICE. That wasn't an act of God, that was the act of the people. They wanted a king, knowing that the king would make them seemstress­es and bakers, so they got what they wanted.

[punkindmb]

08:55 AM on 12/15/2009

Yeah, but he squeaked by both times. So his getting elected twice isn't quite what it appears. He has been a C student all his life and his election wins were middling at best.

[dragonfliye]

11:47 AM on 12/15/2009

GWB wasn't elected by a majority vote. Remember his first "election" was decided in the courts in FLA, where it just so happened his brother was governor. Gore won the majority of the popular vote. The people did not want GWB as pres. And Kerry simply was not a strong enough opponent in 2004. That was not a compliment to Bush, that was a slam against the Dems for choosing a sucky candidate.