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Steven Mosher, president of the anti-family planning group, Population Research Institute (PRI), is at loose ends. He no longer has a collaborator in the White House, and so there is likely to be little patience for his extreme views, including his persistent (and recently reiterated) accusation about the UN agency UNFPA, the world's largest distributor of contraception. Mosher's group has pushed the concocted tale that UNFPA helped enforce China's coercive abortion rule. Even Bush's state department, which did its own investigation, didn't swallow that. (See the state department's 2002 investigation on the subject.) But Bush, always kinder to ideology than evidence, de-funded UNFPA under pressure from Mosher's group, making the US the only nation to ever withhold funds from UNFPA for political reasons.
I've been writing about Mosher's dangerous campaigns since 2006 and did at length in my book, How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America, but only recently has he decided to respond (See "What is Wrong with the UN Population Fund?", 1 January, 2009). (One suspects Mosher's got a direct mail piece to write and funds to raise, and could use some attention.) Mosher, in his attack, writes: "Her claim that Bush ignored the advice of his state department is likewise a fantasy." Mosher appears to believe that repeating something makes it true. The State Department investigators report referenced above clearly states: "We find no evidence that UNFPA has knowingly supported or participated in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization in the PRC [Peoples Republic of China]." It recommended that the money "which has already been appropriated be released to UNFPA." It has been amply reported on that Bush ignored the findings and advice of his own experts. (NYT, WaPo, Salon are a few.)
But here's the more important point. Mosher's focus on the state department and on China in general is a red herring. The words "coercive abortion" no doubt read well in fundraising solicitations to his base. But this isn't his real concern. He has a broader, more ambitious, and considerably scarier agenda. UNFPA does not provide abortion. In fact, the organization states explicitly, "UNFPA does not support or promote abortion as a method of family planning." Instead, UNFPA is the supplier of 41 percent of the world's total needed contraceptive (or prevention) services. Mosher's real reason for targeting UNFPA is his religious crusade against contraception. It says it right in the Frequently Asked Questions section of his website under "What is the Mission of PRI": "We pursue the agenda common to all truly pro-life organizations: against abortion...against artificial contraception..."
Many of PRI's campaigns are designed to eliminate access to contraception. Sadly, Mosher specifically targets those living in the most desperate conditions. As one bit of evidence, consider that PRI doesn't merely oppose UNFPA's work in China. It opposes UNFPA's efforts everywhere and concocts fresh accusations against UNFPA in every country in which it works. In Kosovo, PRI claimed that UNFPA conspired with Slobodan Milosevic to "engage in ethnic cleansing by reducing Kosovars high birth rate" and in "genocide" against the Muslims. In Afghanistan, PRI claimed UNFPA led "reign of terror" in Afghan refugee camps and distributed "abortion kits." The kits were, in actuality, "safe delivery kits", for providing emergency obstetrical care because 1 in 6 women in Afghanistan die in childbirth. Reaching even higher rhetorical heights, PRI claimed that UNFPA aid workers were planning an "abortion Jihad" in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. And while the "abortion jihad," whatever that is, never materialized, the Fall of Iraq and the vast new possibilities it represented did bring Mosher's real fears to the surface. Mosher wrote at the time,
"If we Americans behave in Iraq as we behave in other countries, upon Baghdad's surrender we will fly in teams of population controllers and 'gender advisors.' They will inaugurate programs which will subject Iraqi children, especially girls, to graphic sex education programs. They will stock Iraqi medical clinics with condoms and contraceptives...It gets worse. The gender advisors (this is what they are really called), will provide assertiveness training to Iraqi women, urging them out of the home into the marketplace. They will organize special courses (reserved for women of course) in which they are urged to run for public office and start their own businesses."
Mosher and PRI haven't only targeted UNFPA. They steadfastly work to sabotage every agency delivering, or simply supporting, contraceptive services worldwide. He's called for the de-funding of Unicef claiming it "promotes abortion" and supports "family planning." PRI even attacked Save the Children because the organization supports the right to use birth control. PRI also launched a campaign against USAID, the US agency that distributes contraception worldwide, and features a "USAID Map of Shame" on their website.
What's shameful? Providing the poorest people on earth the ability to plan for and space their children thereby dramatically reducing maternal and infant mortality rates and poverty. When USAID provides condoms in the most AIDS-ravaged regions of the earth, Mosher attacks the "condom-pushers." Distributing condoms, he believes, leads to the breakdown of traditional values. ""How effective is an AIDS relief program that consists of the massive distribution of condoms by clever "social marketing"programs?" he asks. "The fact is, such marketing techniques necessarily promote a lifestyle which contributes to the spread of AIDS."
If Mosher has cleverly disguised his overarching agenda in the China attack, he's open about it elsewhere. An article he featured on PRI's homepage for nearly a year was "The Contracepted Society" by David Prentis which concluded, "The healing of society requires the abolishing of the widespread practice of contraception and sterilization." The society Mosher desires consists of large families, large and unplanned. Mosher spoke at 4th World Congress of Families convened in Poland. His topic, "Promoting and Protecting the Large Family: New Ideas." He himself has nine children, an example of the apparently un-contracepted lifestyle. A lifestyle he hopes to impose on us all.
Mosher would like to fight about a fake and debunked issue, the supposed collaboration of UNFPA with China's coercive abortion laws. It may be good for fundraising (and he's got a big family to support). But what he should be explaining is why he wants everyone else in the world to heel to his beliefs. Why must everyone, including the poorest people on earth, give up the right to plan their families, which the science argues is their best shot at leading healthy lives? Hopefully, with the arrival of the Obama administration, Mosher's ability to force his extreme views on the rest of the world will soon be over.
Related:
Steven W. Mosher: What is Wrong With the UN Population Fund?
Again: give women true choices and we will make choices that enhance our human world. That's who we are.
Imagine this for a second, it is possible for someone to think very profoundingly and critically about something not arrive at the liberal position. Do you honestly believe that Pope Benedict XVI doesn't think critically, and that Mother Theresa never questioned God. If you think that then it is you who are ignorant about religious faith. You are free to be remain ignorant about it. God grants you that freedom, but at the very least, I want you to be aware that you have oversimplicified millions of people in your ignorance.
KEndy
I find it disturbing how free liberals feel to speak with such venom about people who disagree with them. If I may ask can you please disagree with us without assuming that we have some diabolical plot to conquer the world?
I want to address the claim that Mosher is anti-woman. I am offended that so many feminist have defined being pro-woman as putting fertility suppressing chemicals in your body everyday so that you can have the privilege of putting on a suit. I am at work right now, and I assure you there's not much empowering about it. And doesn't anyone think that it's anti-woman to treat their health bodies as things that need to be regularly medicated by drugs that increase their risk of breat cancer?
I think Mosher would agree with me on this: We believe that contraception hurts women's health, hurts marriage, and promotes abortion. We believe that a society that says no children at conception will find it easier to say no to them a few months later as they are developing in their mother's womb. We believe that people are God's greatest gift, and that another life is a reason for joy. and yes, we want to promote this view of life, but that's different than controlling or imposing.
"We believe that contraception... promotes abortion"
That makes absolutely no sense. I suggest you study some mathematics. Look up geometric progression. If every person has two children or more who also have two children you have a geometric progression that will create more people than could fit on the planet in a surprisingly short time. Of course they will die off before that due to lack of food, water, etc. Nature (or God if you like) has been controlling human population in the past via disease, early deaths, and famine. Now that technology enables almost all humans to live to the age of procreation the question is not IF we use some type of population control but WHEN and HOW we do it. Either contraception OR abortion, famine, plague, and war. Which would Jesus choose?
I think I have responded to some of these points in other posts. As for the ticking population bomb. We have done this many times since Malthus, and much of those warnings have proved unfounded because we were unable to predict the type of technology that would make more life sustainable than we previous imagine.
Also, and this comes from my faith admittedly. We (modern humans), are way to arrogant about our ability to determine and control the future. It is not yours to determine how 6 billion people will feed itself. You probably have more reasonable responsibilities and it is best to focus on that. I do not claim to know how to sustain the planet. But I know that those who do are deluding themselves. As you pointed out, if the population explodes beyond what is sustainable, Nature (God) will respond appropriately.
Kendy
As soon as you start talking about government funding or making laws, you ARE controlling or imposing.
What >I< believe is that I'm tired of the religious nuts (Christian and Muslim) getting a free ride to impose their views on the rest of us.
And BTW, if you're so concerned about putting chemicals in your body, then you're buying only organically grown foods, RIGHT?
But more importantly, we are not nearly as interested in imposing laws as we are in converting. Because once you transform culture, laws tend to follow-- no matter which way it goes.
Ok, so we are nuts. Don't you think think it's odd that the overwhelming majority of humanity should suffer from this insanity. Or better yet, how were you so privileged with rare sanity?
Lastly, I try to eat organically if I can afford it. Sometimes, it's just outside of my budget. But I do avoid highly processed food. I think food is just perfect the way God made :).
But, since Mosher can't get pregnant, he should shut the hell up.
My sister-in-law and I both had difficult pregnancies with much wanted children. We were lucky that we could lie still in bed for months to save our babies and ourselves. We had supportive spouses, good insurance and incredible medical care.
Most women on this earth lack all or most of those things.
Okay, maybe that's over the top. But clearly the man is just power hungry. He's not interested in poverty or educating children, he just wants women to be second class baby making factories!
Actually, what he said about the adulterer was "Let he among you who is without sin cast the first stone", so since no one is without sin he was essentially saying "leave her alone".
Be suspicious of anyone who argues a point without rational content, details or facts.
These types will never be happy until everyone goes to their church, wears their closes, speaks their language, only has missionary s*x to procreate (not for fun), and gathers up all others into internment camps.
Sounds like "cultural cleansing" to me...
Idiots like Mosher continue to promote sexual repression and ignorance. They distort the pleasure principle in sex and try to hide it from everyone. Pleasure in sex gets one to first base, but using that pleasure principle in building a healthy overall relationship inside and outside the bedroom is something Mosher and his ilk fight tooth and nail against.
Sexual education has to go hand in hand with contraception and contraceptive means. Mosher and religious institutions want to have us believe that contraceptive means opens the door to promiscuity. That is a flagrant violation of the 8th commandment. What it does is open the door for exploring our own sexuality along with the responsibility that goes along with it. No way does that mean sleeping around town indiscriminantly.
If people from all walks of life in all parts of the world had access to sexual education and proper contraceptive methods, this would be a much nicer world to live in and there would be fewer wars and bloodshed.