Overpopulation and the Impact on the Environment

2.4. ABORTION VS. RELIGION
In the nineteenth century and throughout the twentieth century, bearing a child would often 
result in death of the infant. Therefore, women predisposed to have a difficult delivery would 
secretly execute abortion as a lifesaving procedure (Aaseng 59). In Europe, abortions were legal 
even in the early stages of pregnancy, until in 1869 Catholic Church, under Pope Pius IX, addressed 
all abortions a murder, impacting the global security. This did not stop women’s demand for illegal 
abortion, but fortunately advancements in medicine allowed abortion to be a solution only for 
preventing births and attention to medicine permitted safe pregnancies and chilbirths. No longer 
needed as a lifesaving procedure, abortion became one of the most controversial ethical issues, 
especially within the context of overpopulation crises. Although it encounters fierce opposition, “it 
remains the most widely used form of birth prevention in the world” (Aaseng 57). 
The Catholic Church always deemed the use of contraception as an evil and it advocated 
against birth control in various and colorful ways. The propaganda was transparent, and it involved 
campaign advertisements to evoke emotions against killing “tomorrow’s children” as well as false 
beliefs that condoms as “the latex demons ‘encouraged promiscuity’ and, (...) thereby 
caused 
the 
spread of HIV” (Baird 55). Fortunately, many women around the world find the right to their own 

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bodies more important than the opinions of the male priesthood. In countries of Latin America, 
where majority of population is Catholic, 70 percent of women use contraception (Baird 56). 
Among the western European nations, the lowest fertility rates is found in Italian women. 
However, anti-contraceptive campaigns have been frequent in areas of sub-Saharan Africa, 
where they have proved to be most effective, as this region has the highest fertility rates in the 
world, lowest contraceptive use, and the most cases of unsafe abortion (Baird 56-57). The area is 
also highly affected by AIDS, but health professionals in Kenya believe “condoms were useless 
because they had ‘lots of tiny holes in them’” (Baird 57). Catholic Church made sure that 
contraception is regarded as an assault on African culture and an intention to stop African childbirth 
(Baird 57). Figure 5. below shows the existing fertility rates in Western, Central, and Eastern 
African regions and the ideal number of children.