Birth Control Essay Example

Is Birth Control Really the Answer?

Population control is a framework regarded in some countries in order to promote sufficiency in resources and other aspects of human needs. In particular, some countries in the world have formulated policies and legal guidelines to limiting the number of children per household. For instance, China adopted a one child policy, commonly called the family planning policy. Such a policy restricts urban population to one child but does not limit the rural couples and other special cases such as ethnic minorities, twins as well as unfertile couples. According to the demographic statistics of 2007, about 35.9 percent of Chinese population was subjected to a single child restriction. However, this policy is faced with a number of challenges and resistance from local populations which makes its subsequent enforcement very hard. For instance, in China, such regions as Macau and Hong Kong are not included under the area of the policy implementation. Furthermore, the legislation also exempts non-Chinese citizens from its enforcement.

As a matter of fact, birth control policies are put forth with a view to mitigate the government’s social, environmental and economic challenges resulting from uncontrolled human population and overstretch the pre-existing resources. According to the statistical inferences provided by the relevant Chinese authority, the birth control legislation has been considerably effective in the sense that it has prevented more than 250 million of new births during the period between 1980 and 2000. However, the empirical outcome of birth control is still a mystery. Essentially, birth control policies are subject to intensive controversies in the sense that prevention of birth is a stimulant to forced abortion, which consequently pose a significant threat to the human population. As a result, birth control has not only increased incidences of abortion but also accelerated the risks of death of women who engage in dangerous abortion activities (Goldberg, 2009).

In this regard, birth control is presumably the cause behind female infanticide as well as low reporting of female births which leads to poor records of the practical information. In this regard, population has continued to spill over the limit that the federal government has used wrong statistics generated as a result of the birth control policy. In China, the birth control policy has led to numerous social and economic side effects. For instance, the policy has generated a diverse sex imbalance due to low reporting of female births. The population increases results of numerous socio-economic challenges which further increase the need for control. In the light of the above, a research carried out in 2008 by Pew Research Center in China indicated that about 76 percent of the total Chinese population supported the policy. However, practical assertions have been eminently under negative pressure where population upsurge has prevailed over time.

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Birth control has been noted to reduce the number of births significantly across populations in the world. Birth control however fails in most societies of the world due to conspicuous barriers to policies` implementation. For instance, implementation of birth control measures in most global societies face both religious and ideological resistance which has since stood as a major factor leading to overpopulation and a subsequent overstretch of the existing resources, as well as accelerated poverty levels. Both environmentalists and world leaders also prefer the one-child policy as a global policy to curb population increment guided by the preface of the United Nations.

On the other hand, Indira Gandhi, former Prime Minister in the Indian federal government also executed a forced sterilization plan. According to her plan, couples who had two children were subjected to sterilization. However, in the due implementation of the program, it was leaked out that a significant number of young and political opponents were also sterilized. Such a program was a form of birth control that left a scar in the Indian history with heightened critics to date. In particular, that program is attributed to the creation of public aversion respect to family planning which was a hindrance to government plans for a number of years.

Other scholars also proposed a choice-based and superimposed birth license plan with the sole intention of controlling births as a solution to population overspill. For instance, such a plan was first suggested by Michael E Arth, an urban designer as a ‘birth credit’. Within the framework of this control, any woman would have as many children as she wants as long as she buys a license for any child beyond an average allotment that would result in Zero Population Growth (ZPG). However, in the light of this, allotment credit would undergo expiration after some time, so these credits would not be hoarded by speculators. In practice, the cost of credit could account for a fraction of the actual expenditure on having and raising a child. In this regard, credits were perceived as an icon to sensitize women to the consequence of unplanned birth with respect to the future care of a new born (Jacobsen & Population Reference Bureau, Inc., Washington, 1993).

Society’s Perception of Birth Controls

Essentially, birth control does not only take the legal perspective but it is also a practice in a social setting. However, controls are associated with a negative effect on the body of the victims. Indeed, use of contraception in a birth control and family planning framework is associated with technical mishaps. For instance, other than the costs, this type of control may lead to a decline in fertility and may produce a conditional infertility. In case a user is of tender age, she may end up in a condition of permanent sterility. Furthermore, despite intensive trainings that governments and civil society have engaged in promoting birth controls and family planning in general, the accurate use of the measures is far from being achieved due to personal interests that encroach on the entire process; for example, illiterate members of the society. In other instances, state participation in providing family planning instruments such as contraceptives may be misused. For instance, illiterate members who come across the practitioners demonstrating a banana used as a prop in condom use, go ahead to use condoms donation by the state on bananas thus null results in birth controls are achieved.

Dangers and Society’s Perception of Contraception

Pills that reduce chances of getting pregnant are perceived to be pivotal in generating a steady excitement in most teenagers and women. Over the years, the population control has become a topic of interest in the domain of the vast majority of the global community. As a matter of fact, teenagers have preferred the pills for a number of reasons despite their hazardous effect on the health of a user.

Teenagers

Most teenagers prefer the pills in birth control as they are believed to serve certain pivotal purposes. For instance, teenagers argue that the pills reduce the intensity of menstruation and produce a non-stormy monthly period. This implies that teenagers feel less pain during the period and, therefore, it is a better option to overcome the monthly inevitable pain. In other scenarios, other users also argue that the pills do not only reduce the chance of getting pregnant but also promote the growth and enlargement of breasts. More so, pills are perceived as a formidable guard against pregnancy. Besides the external implication of the contraceptives, some users also believe that the use of the pills improves their respective complexion to what can be publicly desired (Saving, 1994).

Parents also promote the use of contraception by their daughters and themselves. For instance, some parents argue that contraceptives improve the health and protect the future states of their children by preventing pregnancy in the event that young girls engage in an early pre-marital sexual intercourse. Besides that, it is parents’ perception that once teenagers start using contraception, security and peace of mind will be produced in the sense that their kids are protected from an early pregnancy. Other arguments also indicate that parents also perceive such an engagement as a way of enhancing responsibility among the kids in case they engage in pre-marital sex. However, the singular facts remain that the majority of parents deny or are ignorant of the medical risk related to teenagers’ use of contraceptives (Saving, 1994).

Medical Risks Related to the use of Pills as a Method of Birth Control

Other than the obsolete benefits of the pills as a birth control method, the control entails a number of protracted health risks among the users. For instance, pills result to unnecessary blood clotting which further generates a condition ranging from minor to intensive agglutination. Besides that, pills are also attributed to causing violent death of the user due to chemical fragments in the body. While at it, the prolonged use of pills by teenagers also increases chances of contracting cancerous infections at one particular point in a lifetime. Finally, in this context, pills usage does not isolate users by virtue of age patterns. Essentially, persistent use of the pills increases the susceptibility of a user to lethal infections and poses a significant challenge on the user’s life. For instance, according to reports provided by UN’s International Agency on Research of Cancer (IARC), estrogen –progestin combining drugs which basically comprises the birth control pills were ranked first among the carcinogens of cervical, liver and breast cancers. Furthermore, the pills were also noted to pose a significant risk on a user related to both Uterine and Ovarian cancers (Greenhalgh, 2008).

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In the light of the above, most people argue that pills exist as the most practical birth control method that any person can utilize without external exposition of an individual and with minimal costs. At times, the pills also cause radical changes in a woman’s hormonal placement resulting to a condition of imbalance. Such a scenario further undermines the body response to natural forces such as monthly period limiting it to irregular occurrence and inadequacy in some forms of sex-related hormone. In the long-run, the pills as a birth control method lead to more than proportional reduction in population through unnecessary deaths caused by poor implantation due to weakened endometrial walls of the uterus. In addition to that, the pills also cause frantic changes in biochemical elements such as interleukin, which is essential for the actual implantation process (Greenhalgh, 2008).

On account of the latter, about 75 million of women of a reproductive age bracket are actively engaged in the usage of birth control methods. Of this proportion, more than 82 percent use birth control pills. From the above findings, women who constantly use the pills have very high chances of contracting liver, breast or cervical cancers as well as other related ailments such as MI, CVA and even HIV. In the light of the above, birth control methods contain a lot of dangers and pose a significant threat to women`s health. Birth Control can therefore provide no absolute answer to overpopulation when considered in isolation from other important factors (Greenhalgh, 2008).

Annotated Bibliography

• Goldberg, M. (2009). The means of reproduction: Sex, power, and the future of the world. New York: Penguin Press.
  This source is paramount to the study in the sense that it provides the chronological and empirical understanding of the birth control policies and barriers that have occurred in the face of its implementation. Essentially, policies` formulation has been effective but the alignment to the implementation matrix has been hampered by barriers such as religious and ideological intervention within the society. This source therefore provides an understanding of the framework upon which birth control is implemented and the setbacks involved in undertaking birth control under various approaches.
• Saving, T. R. (1994). The Overpopulation Myth. Series on Public Issues No. 4. Public Issues, Center for Free Enterprise, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843 ($2.00.
  The important aspect generated by the source is the understanding of the misconception existing in the society with respect to population and use of contraception. As a control measure of overpopulation, this source explains abuses that exist within the rationale of use of birth control approaches; it leads to a vast decline in intended results in defining a low population growth by virtue of a newborn.
• Jacobsen, J. E., & Population Reference Bureau, Inc., Washington, DC. (1993). Population Change, Resources, and the Environment. Population Trends and Public Policy No. 4
  Similarly, this source complements the first source in providing and understanding birth control approaches as well as analyzing the medical hitches that arise due to the use of birth control methods. Essentially, it discloses health hazards that the users expose themselves to during and after the use of the specific contraceptives.
• Greenhalgh, S. (2008). Just one child: Science and policy in Deng’s China. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  The significance of this source is to provide a case of the birth control policy in China which has seen considerable implication of controlling the national population. Essentially, China’s one-child policy has been a significant step in controlling population and has been reported to reduce population growth by a huge margin ranging between 250 and 300 million within a span of about 30 years. However, the source also puts into context the varying controversy concerning the effectiveness of the policy in China as well as the consolidated resistance to the policy among Chinese urban population. Furthermore, the source provides a scientific approach to birth control and provides clear impacts of birth control elements on an individual’s health.
• Brown, C. H. (January 01, 1984). The forced sterilization program under the Indian emergency: results in one settlement. Human Organization, 43, 1, 49-54.
  This source provides another excerpt from a case policy in India where induced birth control measures face a significant challenge in addressing the problem of overpopulation. This source puts into context the forced implementation of the policy and the subsequent resistance to the plan which implied failure in controlling population by means of birth control.

Research Proposal

Purpose of the Study

This study aims at finding facts regarding the role of birth control in combating overpopulation and enhancing resource utilization and manipulation. In its scope, the research uses a diverse perspective of birth control measures which offers an extensive framework upon which birth control is grounded.

Birth Control as a Control Measure of Overpopulation

Many studies have portrayed birth control as a significant instrument that various governments and individuals use to control the spillover of populations. However, controversial findings indicate that other than the desired prospects of reducing population upsurge, birth control has a lot of challenges due to the accruing factors of high abuse by the practitioners. By virtue of these findings, this paper seeks to unveil the factual perspective of birth control practices in addressing the issue of overpopulation.

Reasons for Choosing this Topic

As a matter of fact, the issue of birth control is presumably very essential in determining the population growth through computation of birth and mortality rates. In the light of the above, adoption birth control has been proposed across the globe with a view to drawing back the ever rising population. However, despite the internal nobility of the framework it has been subjected to extensive abuse and subsequently ended up in failing its core objective. Such abuses include increased cases of abortion and use of contraceptive to perpetuate moral collapse in the society among other moral hazards. With this controversial point, this topic becomes outstanding as a choice of study in this research paper.

Purpose of the Study

This study unveils the facts behind the controversial birth control measures that various countries worldwide seek to adopt while others have adopted with a recurrent failure. In the light of this issue, the paper aims at providing factual information on the impact of birth control on populations as far as the structure and condition of the society is concerned. Consequently, the findings of this paper will provide a framework upon which exercise of choice or refrain can be made with respect to use of various approaches to birth control as a control of overpopulation.

Research Questions

In the exploration of the topic, this research paper seeks to identify the impacts of birth control on populations and its role in controlling population. Furthermore, this paper also seeks to identify the cause and effects of birth control from diverse perspectives of populations within the global vicinity.

Besides that, this paper will also seek to answer the following questions:

• What is the impact of birth control in addressing the issue of overpopulation?
• What are the existing approaches to birth control and its impact on users` health?
• Who is to blame for the overpopulation and persistent failure of population control measures?
• What are the barriers to control of populations from diverse cultural perspectives worldwide?

Approaches to the Topic and Peer Review

Birth control as a tool for combating uncontrolled population upsurge can be addressed through various components that are used in the process of defining the limited birth. In the light of this, birth control has a function of contraceptive as well as natural approaches (Rangan, 1993). Birth control processes basically include barrier methods, intrauterine devices (IUDS), Hormonal Control of Births as well as behavioral approaches. On the other hand, emergency pills are also methods to curb birth; they prevent conception if taken within a few days after sex. Other birth control methods produce long-term effects of birth control . For instance, surgical sterilization and implantable hormones produce very high chances of full birth control within the first year of use. Indeed, in the event that the persons using birth control pills with other specific problem may also need further investigation to ensure clarity of purpose with respect to enhancing the response to contraceptives. This means that before the administration of birth control pills or other non-pills measures, some individuals demand medical examination to ensure compatibility and mutual enhancement of the body functioning during and after the administration of the contraceptive elements (Martinez & National Survey of Family Growth (U.S.), 2011). The contraceptive response to pregnancy prevention also exhibits varying effects. Source: Adopted and modified from ‘National Survey of Family Growth (U.S.), 2011.

The use of birth control pills has been highly abused in the contemporary period which has led to the reduction in the physical outcomes of the control measures on populations. Furthermore, the table shows that the perfect use of contraception is reverted to achieve other desired results. Consequently, such situations amount to product abuse and the contravention of achievement of the noble objective to curb overpopulation (Nguyẽ̂n & Population Council, 1999). On the contrary, users experience different protracted health problems as far as fertility is concerned. Essentially, the birth control measures that considerably result in positive effects on reducing population growth index while at the same time posing insignificant danger on the health of the user include the behavioral approach to birth control. As a matter of fact, this involves regulating the possible time frame or the intercourse with a view to reducing ejaculation in the presence of female ovum. Perfect use of this method may result in a first year record of approximately 3.4 percent. However, a poor approach to this method poses about 85 percent failure of pregnancy prevention.

Possible Audience

This proposal is presumably aimed to reach both parents and young girls crossing puberty age with a view to enlighten them on use and misuse of birth control methods. Essentially, these findings will provide a framework of understanding upon which women of different ages can understand, practice and enhance healthy birth control methods without contravening the health demands of their body.