“The Children of Men,” published in 1992, a haunting novel by P.D. James, offers a glimpse of what might happen. It’s set in Britain 20 years after the last child is born on earth, due to a worldwide plague of infertility. Because it’s a world without children, it’s a world without hope. With Demographic Winter, this will happen gradually, over many years, unlike James’ novel where it happens over the span of 20 years.
1
Natural families can procreate; same-sex couples cannot. Cohabiting couples have fewer children than those who are married. The fertility rate parallels the marriage rate.
2
Stop subsidizing contraception, start promoting procreation. Slightly half of the world’s population uses some for of artificial birth control, at an annual cost of $43.8 billion, most of it paid for by third parties (governments, corporations or NGOs). Instead, that money should be used to help couples have larger families. We should also adopt a family-friendly tax code.
3
There are 73 million abortions a year worldwide – that’s more than three time the number of military deaths in World War II. But the casualties from abortion are actually much higher. We’re also losing all of the descendants the children who were aborted will never have.
4
Comprehensive Sexuality Education indoctrinates students in the myth that the world is overpopulated and salvation lies in further limiting population growth through abortion and contraception.
5
Adopt a tax code that rewards larger families instead of penalizing them. Government should recognize the sacrifice parents make to society by raising the next generation of workers and taxpayers. Additionally, our entertainment ought to show the positives of big families. We also ought to eliminate the stigma of having large families.
6
This is the most important. Again, there is a direct correlation between religious observance and fertility. In Utah, where 53% attend religious services weekly, the fertility rate is 1.99. In New York State, weekly church attendance is 29% and the fertility rate is 1.64.
7
The New York Times’ story acknowledges the phenomenon – which must not have been easy for a paper that never misses an opportunity to promote the Sexual Revolution. Talk to your family, your friends, colleagues, people you know at church about Demographic Winter. (Most probably have never heard of it.) Send a link to our Demographic Winter Resource Center to everyone on your e-mail list. Explain to them factually why we’re heading for a demographic train wreck.
The Ruth Institute is a 501c3 non-profit organization.
630 W. Prien Lake Road, Suite B #246, Lake Charles, LA 70601
