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January 1998

Life Issues Connector 
1721 W. Galbraith Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45239 
Phone (513) 729-3600 · Fax (513) 729-3636 · E-Mail LifeIssues@aol.com 

By J. C. Willke, MD

Not only do population rates continue their dramatic downward trend in the developed world, but a sharp and persistent decline is also taking place in the less developed world. Contrary to Vice President Al Gore and most of the liberal media – if we look and listen – we’ll see that we’ll soon be on the verge of declining population worldwide, not over-population

A November New York Times article said, "Unlike dips in population growth throughout history, this slide, which began in the ‘60s, was not caused by a natural or economic disaster or war or a plague. There’s no Black Death to blame, no World War I, no Great Depression. This decline is widespread; it is steady, and the current decline shows no signs of reversing as earlier ones have."

Overpopulation is certainly the major reason for the Western nations and the United Nations pushing for abortion in underdeveloped lands. But is this still a valid claim (if it ever was)? Most well informed people know that, across the Western World, birthrates have dropped below replacement level. A recent HLI Bulletin gave us some sobering statistics.

35 nations are dying in both Eastern and Western Europe. Fifteen European countries now fill more coffins than cradles. Only two countries are above replacement birth rates – little Malta with 2.4 children per completed family and isolated Muslim Albania with 2.8.

The average married European woman now has 1.35 children in her lifetime. Italy’s birthrate of 1.2 is the lowest in the Western World. The New York Times said in November that, in Italy, government officials expect "empty classrooms and thousands of unemployed teachers, with shortages of service industry workers and health care personnel to care for older people."

Spain is close behind Italy, while European Russia, at 1.1, has the lowest overall birth rate in the world. Last year its death rate was 70% higher than its birth rate.

Europe’s de-population bomb, in both the East and West, is fast producing a huge demographic vacuum into which are moving millions of Muslims and Arabs who have large families.

Some 5 million Muslims now live in dying France. In Germany, Muslims have built some 1,500 mosques. Brussels, the capital of Belgium, has entire classrooms of children without a single Caucasian child in them.

By the year 2000, for the first time in history, there will be more Muslims in the world than Catholics. This, thanks to contraception, sterilization, surgical abortion and abortifacient drugs. Meanwhile the threat of legalized euthanasia hangs over the Western World like a hungry vulture. This may well be the social "solution" for large numbers of elderly people needing to be cared for by a dwindling work force.

Japan, with fewer than 1.4 children per family, is one of the fastest aging nations in the world. Whole villages have no one left but elderly folks. A September New York Times article reported that, because of the shortage of young wage earners, Japan’s rate of savings will be zero or even negative by the year 2010. By 2025, 73% of Japan’s income will be going for social welfare, largely for health care and pensions for the elderly.

Of course, the Chinese are the worst off. For 15 years, the Red Regime has forcibly inserted abortifacient IUD’s into mothers after the birth of their first child. After two children, the State forcibly sterilizes them. Mothers, pregnant without the permission of the Communist Party, are subjected to forced abortions. It has been 15 years of a one child per family policy, resulting in mostly boys. In a few years, there will be social turbulence and violence when tens of millions of young men cannot find wives.

The birth dearth has spread well beyond the developed world. Twenty-seven developing countries now have fewer than 2.2 children per woman, which means they are not reproducing their own numbers. In 1985, the world’s total fertility rate – the number of children born per woman in her reproductive lifetime – was 4.2. Now, worldwide, it’s 2.9 and dropping.

Today 79 countries are dying because of birth rates below replacement level. These countries are home to 40% of the world’s population. By the year 2015, an estimated two-thirds of all the people on earth will live in countries with birth rates at or below replacement level, which is 2.1 babies per woman.

The Wall Street Journal in February of 1997 said, "Villages left will be bereft of children, and schools will be closed for lack of students. If the human face of this population implosion is melancholy, do understand the economic consequences are nothing short of grim. Labor shortages will cramp production. Housing markets will grow moribund. This in turn will create a drag on real estate and other sectors of the countries."

Assuming that we will have a shrinking population, but with the decline much more rapid in the West than in the South, we will see a global redistribution of world population. At the present time, the ratio of population is approximately 4 in the underdeveloped nations to 1 in those more developed. But if these projections continue, by the year 2050, the ratio will be 7 to 1. For example, as of today, the ratio of the population of Europe, compared to Africa, is about 1 to 1. But in another 50 years, there will be three Africans for every one European.

Aging will be another impact of de-population. In 1900, the median age of the world’s population was around 20 years. Today it’s about 25. But with the continuing drastic reduction in birth rates, the aging population will raise the median age to 40 years by 2050.

In some countries, it will be much worse. In Japan, the median age will be 53, Germany 55 and Italy 58 – and there won’t be many children. Another way of looking at it is, if these population trends continue, in another 50 years there will be three times as many old people as young children in the lesser developed nations, but in the West the ratio will be 8 to 1. To take the most extreme example, if Italy’s reproductive rate stays at 1.2 (you need 2.1 to replace), by the year 2050 only 2% of Italians will be under five years of age, but 40% will be over 65.

This is the obvious question. Are the above figures just predictions by a few, or can these be substantiated? In support, there is now a major, well-documented report by Nicholas Eberstadt, a researcher with the American Enterprise Institute and the Harvard Center. In a major October 16, 1997 Wall Street Journal analysis, he reported on the October General Population Conference in Beijing. The Conference was to focus on the threat of over-population. However, the meeting began with a presentation by some of the world’s best demographers offering a dramatic reassessment of the world’s demographic future. They are now seriously considering the possibility that the world’s population will peak in our lifetime and then commence an indefinite decline.

He also details this de-population scenario, set out most recently by the United Nations Population Division’s 1996 revision of its biannual compendium, World Population Prospects, as the oldest, largest and most intensive of various contemporary attempts to outline likely future demographic trends.

Let’s look at what these authoritative numbers are telling us. Recall again that in an underdeveloped country, the average woman must have 2.2 babies in her lifetime in order to maintain a stable population. In a developed nation it’s 2.1

By the UN estimate, total fertility rates in developed regions have fallen in the last six years from 1.7 to 1.5 babies per woman. Clearly, developed nations are dying. It estimates that this will drop farther in the next decade to about 1.4. This means there will then be 3 people dying for every 2 babies being born in the Western World.

There’s a middle group called Less Developed Nations. Their rate had averaged about 3.3 in the early ‘90s. It’s projected to drop to about 2.0 in 20 years and to 1.6 by the middle of the next century.

The third grouping are the Least Developed Countries. Their total fertility rate a decade ago had been about 5.0. This is expected to drop below 4 by 2010, below 3 by 2020 and below replacement level by 2035.

Remember, these are United Nations statistics. This means that, if these trends continue as predicted, there will be global de-population, beginning in a little over 40 years. The UN estimates predict that the actual population of the world between 2040 and 2050 will drop by almost 100 million. From then on, world population will shrink by roughly 25% with each successive generation.

So why does the Clinton-Gore administration and the European Union keep dwelling on overpopulation? They certainly have access to these statistics. The answer is almost certainly what was clearly laid out in the October issue of The Connector. It’s most likely that the primary reason is the quest for power. If the West is to have global control over the underdeveloped South, it must reduce population in the South or lose worldwide dominance.

The West has reduced its own population with contraception, abortifacients, sterilization and abortion. Now, through the United Nations, and with the eager help and aggressive push by the United States through President Clinton, it continues to massively dump those practices on the families of the developing world.

What lies ahead? A world full of wheelchairs, increasingly infirm senior citizens, and escalating demands for medical service and care? Can fewer and fewer young people take care of more and more old people? Perhaps the answer will be massive euthanasia.

The bottom line is that we will all get old. Will there be someone to take care of you, since the State may not be able to? Ben Wattenburg, one of our most famous and reliable demographers today, has said it very succinctly. "You want security in your old age? Then you don’t put dollars into Social Security – you put in babies."

Life Issues Today

with Dr. J. C. Willke

The Answer – Compassionate Care

Is suicide the answer for the person who is told that death is inevitable? If not, what are the answers?

First, one must realistically admit that dying is often difficult. It can be unpleasant and often times burdensome. But every person must someday tread that path into the Great Beyond. That person may someday be your parents, spouse, children or grandchildren, your loved ones, and, one day yourself. Our task, if possible, is to make this passage as comfortable, meaningful, fulfilling and peaceful as it can be. Our task also is to leave those persons around the dying one with good memories and a sense of peace and acceptance.

Is this easy to do? No, but it can be done, and it behooves each of us to try. Most are familiar with the stages that a person goes through after they are confronted with the edict that the end of their worldly existence is coming. Hopefully, there are supportive people around. They must give support to this person, as he or she slowly deals with and accepts the reality of what is to come.

Fear, depression, anger, despair and loneliness are all part of this. Physical symptoms and pain will aggravate it. The medical team must see to it that the patient remains reasonably comfortable physically. But that may well be the easy part. The difficult, but potentially most fulfilling part, lies ahead. Hopefully, with support and help from others, the dying person can get past her anger and come to the point of accepting that she will die, and accept that she will become dependent on others – often an entirely new experience.

With this often comes a feeling of uselessness, fearing they will be "a burden", and a pervasive, continuing fear of this slowly developing and progressing different existence.

What, then, lies ahead? A clamming up, a shutting out of the world? Despair? Hopefully not, for there is so much to do before each one of us dies. None of us has led a perfect life. Through our lifetime we have made mistakes, and we have done many things that we have regretted. Oftentimes, these actions have been directed at or were directly related to those closest to us – a spouse, parent, child, sibling, or close friend. Each of us have left behind people who have been hurt, as we too have been – misunderstandings, resentments and buried anger.

But we have also, during our lifetime, in so many ways taken for granted those who cared for us, did us favors, worked with us and loved us. How often have we said, "Thank you"?

Then, there are the practical arrangements. How does one arrange for the disposition of earthly goods? This certainly includes finances, but it is also so much more – those pieces of china her daughter so loves, Dad’s old cane, her jewelry (valuable or not), etc. What of these? She won’t be needing them anymore. Now is a time to perhaps share them with her loved ones.

Without question, for many or most, there is a need for spiritual reconciliation, pondering, praying, and an attempt to make things right with the Lord.

Many people will say they hope that, when they go, they go quickly. But many of us, experienced in terminal care, would not share that. Rather, we see value to that time at the end. There is a five-point commentary from Hospice – a marvelous way of stating what one’s end can be like. They are "I forgive you – forgive me – thank you – I love you – goodbye."

Hospice care, or its equivalent, properly accomplished – lovingly and professionally done – is without question modern society’s answer to euthanasia. Hospice is usually an institution, but its services are not confined to four walls. More patient hospice care occurs at home, on visits to nursing homes and in other settings than actually occur within its walls. It is a wonderful place to die. A hospital is often a lousy place to die.

It’s often noisy, the lights never go out, and other patients keep you awake. You’re constantly being bothered to have your temperature and blood pressure checked or there’s a meal to eat. There are problems with visiting hours, and the list goes on.

A hospice is an approximation of the ideal situation of dying at home. In a hospice, there are no heroic efforts to prolong a life. When life naturally ebbs and slips away, this is accepted, not fought against. There is also an expertise available for pain control. That, above all, is taken care of.

In a hospice, visiting hours are whenever your loved ones want to come. They can stay as long as they like. Visitors can and should participate in the care of the patient – feeding, bathing, oiling, rubbing, singing, talking, praying or listening. Grandchildren can come and even bring their pets. Clergy are not merely squeezed into a busy schedule or tolerated, but accepted as an integral part of the team. This is a place from which the patient can go home, if his or her condition improves.

Hospice provides doctors, nurses, social workers, clergy, physiotherapists and, above all, the gift of time. Does that busy nurse in the hospital have time to sit down and just talk, or, more importantly, to just listen? Rarely. In a hospice, that is her job. For instance, a patient has an estranged brother in a distant city but no nearby family to make that contact. In a hospital, very likely nothing is done. In a hospice, that is what they’re all about. They will contact him and urge him to come to visit, talk and share before his sister dies.

Substantial personal growth can occur while approaching death and, literally yet, while dying. Dying can be a time of personal fulfillment to the patient and those around him.

This can be a time to complete things such as the following:

A son, long estranged from his father for, in his mind, justifiable reasons. The father is near death. That son can come back and forget who was guilty of what. He can tell his father that he loves him and ask for his forgiveness insofar as he himself was in the wrong. A father’s response in such an instance is usually one of embracing him whom he sees as a prodigal son. Such an exchange of love, very likely with tears, can release both from the emotional bondage of long-harbored anger, resentment and personal guilt.

A grandfather can gather grandchildren about him and recall for them tales of his earlier life and his own boyhood. He can tell how he met their grandmother, their courtship and marriage, and their bearing and rearing of the parents of these children. Such stories, often heard for the first time by these little ones, will not be forgotten. They offer a bridge to the past, a tie in blood between generations, a pride of "ownership" in having had this grandpa. This also serves as a positive and loving example to these children’s parents, and to the children themselves, of the inter-generational role that grandparents can and should play, and that hopefully each of them will play someday.

A divorced wife, long estranged from her husband, carries with her, as does he, a wall of bitterness from that painful separation experience. Deep inside both of them, completely unspoken and fully repressed (most of the time), there remain some feelings of regret. Perhaps for not having put forth the full effort to preserve that union, or of even being somewhat ashamed of oneself for having done or said some of the things that led up to that break. All of these can add up, deep inside of each, to unresolved emotional feelings. If she can come to this dying man, embrace him, and tell him how she remembers their initial love and that some of that still remains in her heart. If she can tell him she’s sorry for whatever hurts she has caused him and ask him to forgive her, almost certainly the wall between them will dissolve. He will accept, forgive and respond to her in kind. Now all of the facade, the built-up encrustations of time, pride and self-justifications fade away. After such a tender moment, it may be that he can die in peace, and that she knows it. She herself can then go back to her own life with a lighter heart, a cleaner conscience, a burden lifted from her soul.

This can be a time of clearing one’s spiritual conscience of guilt and sin. He can share time with a priest who can offer God’s forgiveness through the Sacrament of Confession. Or to share time with a minister or rabbi to discuss and relieve one’s soul and be reassured of God’s forgiveness of past sins. This is a time to share with a trusted friend. A time to open a locked conscience and get such previous violations of God’s rules (as he or she sees them) cleared from one’s conscience.

Memories are powerful things. They follow us our entire life. We have our share of bitter, angry, or just plain bad memories. It is not good to bury those memories. It is much better for them to surface in an atmosphere where love can be exchanged and mutual forgiveness is relatively easy to extend. When we strip away all of the encumbrances of modern life – money, prestige, power and pride – the important things that remain at the very end are our relationships to people. Primarily they are to our own flesh and blood, to those we have loved, those who are closest to us. It is so much better to bury good memories than bad ones.

Your author and many others who have cared for dying persons hope that each of you, when confronted with a person who is dying, will try to make those last weeks and days a time to remember, a time of fulfillment, and a time to consider once again those five last acts: I forgive you . . . Forgive me . . . Thank you . . . I love you . . .Goodbye. !

This is an abbreviated version of the last chapter of Dr. Willke’s new book, Assisted Suicide & Euthanasia.

Action Needed on Partial-Birth Veto Override

On October 10, 1997 President Clinton again vetoed a federal law prohibiting partial-birth abortions. It is estimated that the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 1997 would save the lives of 3,000 to 5,000 babies each year. This bill passed with a veto-proof majority in the House. However, they are three votes short of a veto override in the Senate.

It is expected that a congressional vote to override will take place later in the spring. This will give pro-lifers the needed time to generate a flood of letters to key senators, asking them to reconsider their previous pro-abortion vote.

Various pro-life groups are coordinating their efforts into one effective undertaking. Of the senators voting with President Clinton, this coalition of pro-life organizations has prioritized those who are considered "somewhat likely" to reverse their pro-abortion vote.

Therefore we encourage you to make the following action a priority. Please write to the following senators and ask them to support a vote to override the veto of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 1997. Make your letters factual but calm. Use this opportunity to educate them regarding this gruesome abortion technique. Please also encourage your friends, family, coworkers, neighbors and fellow church members to write. Remember; the only thing stopping the passage of this bill are 3 votes!

London Conference

Pro-lifers from around the world are invited to attend an upcoming conference, Compassionate Care of the Dying. The conference will be held in London, England on March 13 and 14, 1998. It will be located at the Regent Hall on Oxford Street in Central London. The venue will feature the best minds of the international spectrum in the fields of hospice and palliative care. In addition, American experts will brief conference attendees on the status of this Nation’s laws on physician-assisted suicide.

The International Right to Life Federation and England’s Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC) will host the event, in cooperation with Life Issues Institute and the British Hospice movement.

Life Issues Institute is providing a grant that will furnish transportation for several of the American speakers, and has been assisting with organizational and promotional aspects. Recognizing that England is the birthplace of hospice and the first palliative care, London was a natural choice for the location of the conference.

Confirmed speakers include: John Flemming, an author and leading Australian figure in the effort to rescind the Northern Territory’s euthanasia law. Philip Howard, MD has

been a prominent English spokesperson opposed to living wills. A leading doctor from the British Hospice movement will speak, as well as Dr. Haasnoot from Holland.

Some of the speakers representing America include: James Bopp, Jr., JD, President of the National Legal Center for the Medically Dependent & Disabled, and Carlos F. Gomez, MD, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of VA School of Medicine and author dealing with end-of-life issues. In addition, Gayle Atteberry, a key figure in Oregon’s recent physician-assisted suicide referendum, will address the group. Dr. Willke will speak, and an AMA official has also been invited..

End-of-life issues have become more prevalent and are already part of many American’s lives. Therefore we encourage you to attend this exciting and informative conference to learn from these leading experts. Airfare to Europe may be less that you expect. For more information contact Life Issues Institute or Paul Tully with SPUC in London. Paul will be able to assist you with all the details, including a variety of available accommodations. He can be reached by phoning 011-44-171-222-5845.

A new book by Dr. J. C. Willke

Assisted Suicide & Euthanasia, Past & Present

• The Nazi doctors
• Holland today
• US Supreme Court
• The AMA & the US story
• Oregon legalization
• Compassionate care

• This gives you the events leading up to the German experience, the
• German euthanasia program, the Holocaust, and then describes in detail
• the present Dutch euthanasia program.
• It presents and analyzes the pro-euthanasia happenings that led to the
• landmark US Supreme Court decision of 1997.
• This details the seminal arguments before the Court, the role of the AMA, etc.
• and provides the remarkable and comprehensive answers given.
• The legalization in Oregon is closely examined.
• Every possible argument offered to justify assisted suicide and euthanasia is
• answered in Dr. Willke’s familiar clear, concise manner.
• The conclusion is a heart warming chapter on "the answer", compassionate
• care of the dying.

Target Stores & Planned Parenthood

Target stores have been attempting to cooperate with area churches by making their store credit cards available through them. In return the churches receive a 1-% rebate. This should be alarming to churches and local pro-life organizations.

For the past 20 years, Target’s parent company, Dayton Hudson, has been a generous and aggressive supporter of Planned Parenthood. However, when asked about support for this leading pro-abortion organization, they state that a recent $18,000 contribution was a "one-year" grant, implying that their support was only a one-time gift. They neglect to tell callers that the "one-year" grant is routinely renewed each year. Further, they say that the Dayton Hudson Foundation is separate from the Dayton Hudson Corporation and that the corporation has no control over the Foundation. This is untrue. The Dayton Hudson Corporation directly funds the Foundation and has the ability to influence grants.

This is unlike the Ford Family Foundation which has a history of funding Planned Parenthood. It is not funded or controlled by the Ford Corporation. Ford family members fund the Foundation and decide where the money will be given. The same can be said for Bill Gates, the computer software multi-billionaire who has generously supported Planned Parenthood in the past. Microsoft Corporation neither funds nor authorizes grants to this leading pro-abortion organization. Therefore, no pro-life boycott has been called on either of these two corporations.

The Dayton Hudson Foundation’s feminist, pro-abortion roots are well documented. Cynthia Mayeda, former chairman of its Foundation, was described by the Minneapolis Star Tribune in September 1990 this way. "On her office wall hangs a photo of Cynthia Mayeda standing on a chair in the middle of a crowded convention floor, her mouth open in protest, her fists holding a banner reading: `EQUAL RIGHTS/CIVIL RIGHTS – ERA’". The Tribune referred to Mayeda as a "self-described feminist".

The Tribune article also described Ann H. Barkelew, Vice President for Public Relations at Dayton Hudson, as "a financial contributor to Planned Parenthood and the Women’s Campaign Fund, which supports abortion-rights candidates."

Due to protests from the pro-life community, Dayton Hudson announced that they would no longer fund Planned Parenthood. However, almost immediately, they reversed this decision, caving in to radical pro-abortion extremists. During Dayton Hudson’s initial reversal, the Tribune stated that "Barkelew also is active in the Minnesota Women’s Consortium, a coalition of 170 activist groups that staged a demonstration against Dayton Hudson until it resumed funding Planned Parenthood."

Pro-lifers have zeroed in on Target stores because of their status as the "cash cow" of the Dayton Hudson Corporation. The defenders of unborn babies want to demonstrate to corporate America that it is not financially lucrative to support an affiliate of Planned Parenthood, the largest single abortion provider in the nation, while attempting to deceive those who disagree with the killing of unborn children. Therefore, we encourage all pro-lifers to support the boycott of Target stores.

Call Deb Gilbert at Target Stores Guest Relations Department, (612) 304-4810. Then kindly tell her that you will not shop at Target stores because of their grants to Planned Parenthood. Or write to them at: Target Stores, Attn. Guest Relations, CC-08C 3380 6^th St., Minneapolis, MN 55440.

STATES EXCHANGE

A Pro-Life Message on the Silver Screen

We have exciting news for those who would like to send an effective pro-life message out to a targeted audience. Life Media, a local pro-life organization in the greater Kansas City area, began airing theatre ads to reach women, their boyfriends and parents with pro-life information. Research indicates that people usually arrive at a movie theatre approximately 10 minutes before the film begins. During this time, theatres customarily run ads, similar to a slide projector format, that are rotated three times. Each ad is viewed for 5 to 7 seconds, giving the average movie attendee multiple opportunities to see the message.

Life Media approached Wood Dickinson, a pro-life owner of approximately 15 movie theatres, with the idea of including a pro-life message with the other ads. Then they consulted with the Vitae Society, an organization well versed in media communication, to develop the most effective message possible. Currently, the ad running in Kansas City area theatres is designed to reach women from the perspective of Post-Abortion Syndrome. A pensive woman is shown holding a baby blanket and rattle. The message reads, "They don’t tell you how empty you’ll feel, how much it hurts, how lonely you’ll be….after the choice." Life Media feels that the women they are attempting to reach frequent movie theatres, and are encouraged by the feedback they’ve received thus far. It’s estimated that one million people see this message every year when placed in a large multi-plex theatre.

The cost for a one-year contract may not be as much as you expect. Costs will vary depending upon the size of the community – as low as $1,000. Keep in mind that one theatre may hold 16 individual movie screens, and that your message is seen before every film shown. You may easily target your audience by showing the ads in a college town or theatre near a university. The bulk of Life Media’s income for this outreach project comes from local churches. It’s not unusual to have a church purchase a whole, one-year contract.

The message must be presented in a very careful and thoughtful manner in order to have the desired effect as well as be accepted by theatre owners. And even then, Life Media received a number of rejections. Life Media is happy to work with other pro-life groups interested in this new concept. They can be reached by writing to: Life Media, PO Box 4448, Overland Park, KS 66204, or phone (913) 268-8400.

The official quarterly publication of Life Issues Institute. Vol. 7 Number 17 Subscription $25. Copyright Life Issues Institute, Inc. 1997.  Used with permission. Last updated: 11/03/06

Used with permission. Articles may be reproduced with acknowledgment of their source. 

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