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FREEDOMWAYS                               
FIRST QUARTER 1972

for International Development has provided funds for Meharry Medical College to establish a Maternal and Child Health Center which will provide specialized health training and consultative assistance to African countries. Family planning training and assistance are an integral component of the program to be established for African health workers. Futhermore, unless an African country agrees to employ family planning as part of its national health design, it will not be eligible to participate in activities of the center. When one of the government health officials was questioned in reference to evidence which could be cited to justify the necessity to include family planning as a sine qua non of the proposed training program, he replied that a controlled study is being conducted in Ghana at present which should provide answers to this question. He admitted that the study had not been completed and he was not in any position to predict its outcome. From this rather startling revelation, one might assume that AID is totally confident that the results of the study will substantiate its preconceptions. Naturally the official refused to speculate as to the course AID would pursue in the event that the outcome of the study proved otherwise. Would it be uncharitable to suggest that the United States is not the least bit concerned that she will be proven wrong and is prepared to continue promoting population planning regardless of evidence to the contrary?

While one decries and views with alarm the heavy-handed and outright bullying tactics employed by the international consortium of population "experts," it would be incorrect to take a rigid position in regards to the population question. It is conceivable that a "Third World" nation might, with good justification, decide to employ family planning for a limited period. Under certain circumstances, a truly independent and democratic nation may be convinced of the necessity of such a policy in improving the well-being of all of its citizens. But this is a purely internal decision, made by a sovereign people and based on what it perceives to be in its own best interests. 

Professor Barry Commoner, Director of the Center of the Biology of Natural Systems at Washington University, recently drew attention to the need to view the population question from this standpoint. In a recent address to the annual clinical meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Dr. Commoner stated that the campaign for fertility control in pre-industrial countries is a political and moral, rather than scientific issue. He felt that the response from these countries would also be political. Finally, in a statement which has far-reaching implications, he declared that, "We

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