Page 33 - issue_32_en
P. 33
ﻋ
ELITE Vol.1, Issue 32, June 2021 ﺔﻴﺑﺮ #
It is important to note that most of the hesitancy these fears and stigmas, the policy would not be as
surrounding forms of birth control come from external effective as planned. In this situation, the best that we can
pressures or social stigmas rather than religious do, aside from making sure everyone knows the social and
obligations. In some cases, wives are subservient to their economic implications of having too many children, is to
spouses, meaning that they would be reluctant to take any educate them about the different forms of birth control and
form of birth control if their partners oppose it. In other provide a discrete way for people to access them
cases, we will find that pressures from family members, whenever and wherever they may need them.
friends, and even the public can make people shy away
from purchasing or using any form of family planning. If One more challenge arises with digitizing government
you are married and keep putting off having kids, you services such as marriage registries and birth certificates.
will get asked something along the lines of “Is something This policy is meant to make it easier to keep track of how
is wrong with you or your spouse?” Once you let them many children each family has. While most of the
know you are not ready to have children or do not want to population is up to date with necessary legal paperwork, a
article title
have more (code words for using forms of birth control), minority will still find it easy to slip in the shadows and
you might end up hearing words like, “Some people avoid registering their marriages or creating birth
aren’t lucky enough to be able to have a child, and here certificates for their children. Although this might be a
you are refusing God’s gift,” which usually stem from hard pill to swallow, some communities live off the radar.
ignorance. Suppose you are patient enough to ignore They get married, but fail to register their marriage, have
these remarks; the public raises another obstacle. kids, yet don’t register their birth, and earn their wages
Regardless of your gender, if you’re young and attempt to through legal but off-the-charts means. When do we find
purchase a contraceptive, you’ll find yourself many a out that they had 7, 8, or even 9 kids? When these same
time the target of scornful gazes and unnecessary children begin to emerge in the “real world,” where they
remarks, even if you’re married. find it difficult to survive without forms of identification.
To combat this very problem, before China’s one-child
policy was abolished in 2016, there were “family planning
officials” who reported unregistered children.
Whether we like it or not, people may never understand
how dangerous overpopulation is until it is too late. The
key to the success of these policies comes with the general
support of the people: as long as people are willing to
listen and take action to protect themselves and their
country, the policies are deemed effective; otherwise,
Moreover, there is some misinformation surrounding hopes of managing the uncontrolled overpopulation
contraceptive use. Some people have misconceptions severely decline. To be sure, the only way these policies
about the safety of these drugs and procedures – can make an impact is through continuity, but we need to
oftentimes assuming that they might result in be cautious lest these policies work too well. We have
complications in future pregnancies and even infertility. witnessed the effects of family planning and population
The biggest challenge here lies in the fact that attempts at control policies in China and South Korea; yes, they
denouncing these apprehensions will take a long time. managed to control the population growth, but at what
For example, according to a University of Maryland cost. Youths of this generation are less willing to get
survey, around 50% of Egyptians are hesitant/ unwilling married, much less have children. Interestingly, the South
to get the COVID-19 vaccines. Regardless of the amount Korean government is giving incentives to encourage
of available information that shows that the vaccine’s couples to have children. We came off to a great start;
benefits outweigh its costs, we can see that breaking however, if future policymakers do not show as much
misconceptions that revolve around one’s wellbeing is a dedication to solving this problem, we can kiss any real
grueling task. If access to birth control is hindered by chance at overcoming this grave problem goodbye.
32