The appearance of a trailer providing vasectomies and abortions at the Democratic Convention in Chicago came as a shock. Last week at the convention Planned Parenthood of St. Louis came offering free abortion inducing medication and vasectomies inside a “mobile health clinic”. Once again, I was reminded that the only “plans” this organization seems to promote these days are for ending parenthood.

The Democratic party and its presidential candidate Kamala Harris have come a long way since the days when President Bill Clinton said that “abortions should be safe, legal, and rare.” Now they are safe, legal, and all too common. Estimates of the number of abortions in the U.S. since 1973 are as high as 63,460,000. That is an entire generation of Americans and nearly ten million more total deaths then occurred in World War II.

Concerns about overpopulation and controlling the number of births became a hot topic following the publication of Dr. Paul Ehrlich’s alarmist, and error filled 1968 book “The Population Bomb” where he predicted that overpopulation would make life unlivable on this planet. Ehrlich believed that massive reductions in global population were critical for human survival. He hoped that a combination of carrot and stick methods would reduce fertility sufficiently. But he also believed that stern measures, including compulsory sterilizations, might be needed.

While this was going on, almost unnoticed fertility rates, which measure the number of live births per childbearing age women, had actually been falling in most of the world since 1950 when the fertility rate was 5.0 children for each female of childbearing age falling to 2.2 in 2021. Currently the fertility rate in over half of all countries and territories (110 out of 204) are below the population replacement level of 2.1 live births.

In the United States the fertility fell to its lowest level of 1.62 in 2023. This is far below the 2.1 child per woman replacement rate needed to keep the population of the U.S. at its current level.

Today falling fertility rates are compounded by the fact that people are living longer. Add to this the fact that an aging population makes for a smaller workforce and this nation, and the world, may be faced with serious economic problems we never foresaw.

Among these problems are fewer people contributing to the Social Security Trust fund and Medicare. People are living longer and collecting more Social Security benefit checks. In 1940, life expectancy was 61.4 for men and 65.7 for women. By 2000, life expectancy was 73.8 for men and 79.5 for women; by 2050, life expectancy will be 79 for men and 83.3 for women. In 1940, there were 42 workers per retiree. Today the ratio is 3-to-1 and by 2050 it will be 2-to-1. The burden on each individual worker will increase substantially and we may no longer be able to keep out promises to retirees at current payroll tax levels.

The trailer in Chicago may be saying something very sad about our society. This is that children are seen as disposable when they keep us from a good life or our own fulfillment.

I realize that some are unable to have children because of reproductive or vocational issues and that childless adults often have the freedom and wherewithal to make great contributions to society. However, my wife and I chose to be parents and from my point of view as the father of three productive adults and seven challenging grandchildren, being a parent is a wonderful thing even if it didn’t always seem so at the time.

Looking back, in my case I see that being a father made me a better and more responsible husband, boss, and adult leaving behind the boy I had been. I can look back on my life and while never having developed a new cure, written a great piece of literature, or brought peace to the world I can look with pride at the family my wife and I created and helped guide to adulthood.

Where once Planned Parenthood helped women to avoid unwanted pregnancies through birth control it now performs 40% of all U.S. abortions or 354,871 out of a total of 930,460 in 2020 and distributed 534,000 emergency contraception kits containing a “morning after pill” to chemically terminate pregnancy after unprotected sex. Sadly 96.9% of women seeking help at Planned Parenthood receive an abortion.

I suspect Margaret Sanger, the founder of the movement to legalize birth control and prevent unwanted pregnancies and one of the founders of Planned Parenthood who felt that abortions should only be performed to protect the mothers health, would have been appalled had she appeared in Chicago last week and seen that trailer.

I am sorry if I offended or disturbed anyone but could someone, please tell me how our nation and our world are improved by the deaths of millions of children who never had a chance to grow up.

Thomas Kirkpatrick Sr. is a Silver Creek resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com