How many people have given a thought to where the world might be in another decade with the current population growth? Certainly, it is not the booming problem that it was during the “Baby Boom” era of the 1950s, but there is still more growth than is healthy for our sagging resources. For many, the thought of medical sterilization brings thoughts of too final a decision with some even focused on, “What if I lose one of my children and want another?” Do you really think you can replace a child that dies by having another one? Perhaps that is not the thought behind it, but the line of thinking certainly makes it sound that way. For others, it is just that final step, the knowledge that you cannot bring another life into the world that makes it seem like such a distasteful decision to make.

With advances in medical sciences, sterilization methods have evolved over the last few decades. What used to be only a “woman’s” thing has evolved to the male population, with some males even volunteering for medical sterilization because the procedure is much easier for males than females. The only advantage of a male undergoing a vasectomy instead of a female undergoing a tubal ligation is that a vasectomy is easier to reverse if the couple should change their mind. This is especially a question when a marriage breaks up and the husband remarries someone who does not have children. There is no guarantee that either procedure can be reversed, so it’s important to make certain that you do not want any more children before electing any of the sterilization methods. These should always be considered permanent even with the possibility of reversal being eminent.

Over time, it is possible that the use of medical sterilization will assist in keeping the population growth to a more manageable level, but at that same time, it will require the cooperation of all the world’s people. Unfortunately, there will always be those who will not cooperate for religious reasons, even with the knowledge that the future of the world’s resources depends on each person playing his and her part to reduce the growth of the population. Should the government intervene in this decision? No, of course not, it is a personal decision, but education will help all of the world’s people see how our resources are being drained by overpopulation. On the other hand, the governments of each country should not allow its citizens to continue reproducing at its expense.

The hard part in this country of ours is that people can’t afford medical sterilization or birth control, so where does it all end? Is it the government’s place to tell people how many children to have or when to stop having them? No one wants government intervention into their personal lives, yet so many fail to have control of those very same lives and the things that are important to the survival of our country, and even the world. If we are not going to take responsibility for our own actions or listen to the advice of others, then what is the answer? We don’t want the government to interfere in our lives, but many have no problems having more children than they can afford and expecting the government to help take care of them. For those who refuse to take financial responsibility for the number of children they have, there is no easy answer. We can only hope that someday the situation reverses itself while we still have enough resources left to take care of our people.