SHTF: Mandatory Birth Control

When resource depletion, war, global weather changes, natural disasters or mass casualty events occur, some observer suggests that having fewer people on earth would make things better for all. While nobody ever openly admits offing the excess population (but many of them salivate secretly at the possibility), they have no problem tossing out the concept of Mandatory Birth Control.

MBC advocates call for a one or two child limit per household or couple or some similar scheme. Their reasoning is that with fewer children being born, the population will gray naturally and over a few generations, limit the human footprint upon the globe.

For Mandatory Birth Control to work, however, a few conditions have to be met.

- The government must, through law enforcement, force everyone to take part in the program.
- The medical community must be 100% compliant with the law - no underground doctors assisting in births for families wanting more children than the law allows.
- Religious influences must be altered or eliminated. Many of the world's religions forbid the use of contraception or allow abortions.
- Abortions have to be mandatory for persons on whom traditional birth control has not worked. Thus, the state has to accept the liability of medical and psychological issues which may arise.
- Everyone in the world has to go along with the plan and give it their unconditional support.

Therein lies the problem.

Most of the world is considered "developing". Developing cultures have a greater dependence on physical labor for agriculture and manufacturing. Fewer children mean less available labor so that won't fly.

Further, many nations will never go along with mass birth control, sterilization or abortion on demand.

Many national leaders are poster children for corruption. They will comply with the law on the surface, but then go home and continue to sire more children with spouses and concubines and offer the same privilege to their inner circle and supporters.

Finally, some nations will embrace this wholeheartedly and these are the same nations who have adherence to rule of law and societal structures which will help prepare and train the population for compliance. Most of these nations, however, are western developed nations which are already racing to zero population growth.

In the end, the developing nations will ignore mandatory birth control laws and will continue to have more children. Developed western nations will non-repoduce themselves to extinction.

The end result will be worse than the original problem. No, mandatory birth control will not work.

Here's a creepy 70's movie called ZPG about the subject: