The Fertility Debate

A mediocre piece by a mediocre writer, needs editing too.

Kaalchakra
According to demographers fertility replacement level is 2.1 children per woman, when fertility drops below this level populations start to decline gradually.the following muslim countries fertility rates have dropped below this level, Turkey, Iran, Tunisia, Lebanon, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Bosnia. I don’t think there is a strong correlation between incomes and fertility, as the examples of UAE and Kuwait prove. I think there is a stronger correlation between female literacy, empowerment etc, and fertility rates.


http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/fields/2127.html

Kaalchakra
According to demographers fertility replacement level is 2.1 children per woman, when fertility drops below this level populations start to decline gradually.the following muslim countries fertility rates have dropped below this level, Turkey, Iran, Tunisia, Lebanon, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Bosnia. I don’t think there is a strong correlation between incomes and fertility, as the examples of UAE and Kuwait prove. I think there is a stronger correlation between female literacy, empowerment etc, and fertility rates.


http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/fields/2127.html

khurram, aslam644

Do you guys know of any good research in this area?

On side note:-

99.05% percent of anti-abortion leaders are men. 100% of them will never be pregnant. ~Planned Parenthood advertisement

Dear Writer

Very thoughtful article! I must say you have done an excellent job of putting it all together.

In my opinion abortion is every woman`s personal choice, right and decision to make with any pregnancy, either expected or unexpected.

I have seen women who are strongly against abortion, end up having one, when they end up having unexpected pregnancy. At that point, it becomes their own issue.

The countries where abortion is not legal, like Pakistan, I have witnessed millions of women going for backstreet abortions in highly unsanitary conditions induced by mid wives and they ended up in hospitals with either incomplete abortions, bleeding profusely, missed abortions, septic abortions, or with uterine ruptures and septicemia, hemorrhagic shocks, and majority of them died either at their homes or in hospitals due to all these complications of backstreet abortions.

Mostly, by the time they reached hospitals, it was too, late and they died at the spot.........

In America, where abortion is legal, there are almost no abortion induced complications.

Not only that every women has every right to her own body, she is not anyone`s slave to make this important decision by other`s choice.

Give them freedom of choice, don`t give them deaths.

Even if religious Mullahs raise slogans against abortions, abortions can`t be stopped.

As a result of this, majority of women in an effort to hide their abortions under the carpet loose their lives and their genitalias........................

Ref Salim_Chauhan #7

Actually, invading Turks introduced buggery to Bulgaria, condemning an entire nation!

contrary to popular belief,turkey, iran and algeria`s fertility rates have dropped to western levels, without the western social welfare,that is a grim prospect for elderly folks.

There is a well known relationship between economic development and fertility rates.

Once that is accounted for, is there any correlation between religion and fertility rates?

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Aisha,
Finally I finished reading your excellent article on a very important subject. In our misplaced quest for domination via numbers, we Muslims are actually fornicating ourselves into abject poverty and backwardness. The same taboos against contraceptives that Muslim ulema impose are in fact there in writing in the Holy Bible. For example, Onan, the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, who was the son of Abraham, was struck dead by God because he ``wasted`` his seed during intercourse with his brother Er`s widow, Tamar.

The following is an interesting story from the Bible about how men have traditionally, morally, and socially controlled the two-party task of procreation:

http://www.duckworks.net/byEd/chapter3.html

``Family Matters``

{``Judah had sons named Er, Onan, and Shelah.

Er married a woman named Tamar, but then Er offended God, so God killed him. Judah told Onan to impregnate Tamar, according to the tradition. Onan was not disposed to do so, so he practiced coitus interruptus with her. This offended God, so God killed Onan too. Almost out of sons, Judah sent Tamar home to her father. He promised that she could marry Shelah as soon as he grew up. Years passed. Shelah had grown up, but Tamar was still living a widow`s life at her dad`s.

One time, when she knew Judah would pass by a certain place, she disguised herself as a prostitute, putting a veil on her face. When he saw her, he offered her a goat in exchange for a sexual encounter. She accepted. He didn`t have a goat right with him, so he left his seal, cord and staff as security. When he tried to pay up, Tamar had already resumed her true identity, so she didn`t get her goat.

About three months later, Judah was told that his daughter-in-law Tamar had been playing the harlot and had gotten pregnant. He ordered her to be burned alive. Tamar showed Judah the seal, cord and staff, and said that it was the owner of these who`d knocked her up. Recognizing them, Judah knew what happened. He said that he`d really deserved it since he hadn`t given his last son Shelah to Tamar, so he didn`t burn her alive.

In due time, she bore twins, Perez and Zerah. As it turned out, Perez`s direct descendants included King David, and later Joseph the carpenter, Jesus` step-dad. ``}

``Why do most Muslim populations have a higher birth rate than other communities in similar geographic bounds? Why is Turkey’s birth rate higher than neighboring Greece? And how much of a say do Muslim woman have on how and when their uteruses are filled with life?``

there may be simpler explannation besides those highfaluting concepts of Ijtehad or Taqleed.

without bringing Islam exclusively into the uterus as well -- if we look at it rather objectively -- the Muslim woman has as much a say as a Pope`s Catholic woman has -- or for that matter a Greek Orthodox Church`s woman has -- as to ``how and when their uteruses are filled with life``....

may be the Greek men have other non-uterine avenues of sports and WORK available to them to exhaust themselves -- and the poor Turks have none -- except the uterus to play with, for most of their Non- Working hours....

....(which may be fewer and far between for the industrious Greeks but plenty for the lazyTurks)…....

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this is a slippery slope..once you allow women to have procreation rights, they will next demand sexual rights..and then the ``society`` comes undone.

re: Aisha

This was a very educational article.

Thanks!

Ciao

> what the Muslims should do is to try to have as many children as they can, because this is
> the command of the Prophet

i guess ur kind is already doing that. There is now almost 30% muslim population in assam.
at this rate - Assam should soon become our second muslim majority state...

> Marry the one who is loving and fertile, for I will be proud of your great numbers before the
> nations
are sure this was god speaking.... sounds like satan to me.
no wait - this is YOUR god speaking , right ... ok now it makes sense.

carry on.