Some governments say how many children a family can have in their country. They may control the number of children someone has through taxes. Do you agree that it is sometimes necessary and right for a government to control the population in this way?
Population control is a major concern for governments across the world. Nowadays, with family planning rates increasing and death rates decreasing, the population of this world is exponentially growing. With such rapid growth the government should take measures to eliminate the harmful effects of an overpopulated country. The government can the monitor population rate based on factors such as increasing reproductive education in schools, providing more access to birth control, and eliminating government benefits based on the number of children. Population control measures are necessary in today’s society to avoid famine, poverty, and limited resources, but these do not need to be controlled by raising taxes.
Controlling population is essential to maintaining an orderly country. If the population exceeds sustainability there will not be enough resources for everyone. Some might not have access to health care, more people would be unemployed, and poverty would be more prevalent. In order to decrease these effects, population control can simply be educated more in school. In the United States high schools have been offering a mandatory health class which talks about reproduction and sexual education. This class is beneficial for students because it educates about sexually transmitted disease (STD) prevention, so students are aware about making right choices at a young age. Countries in Asia, such as India and China, which are not teaching sexual education in schools, have been seen to have had a more rapid population increase. It is often taboo to mention sexual reproduction to students in grade school in most Asian countries, so it is not educated in schools. Although the implemented One Child Policy in China has been effective, more and more women need to get abortions. If schools change their curriculum and provide a small focus in health classes about sexual reproduction, then students would be more educated in this area and fewer accidents would occur.
In addition, birth control should be provided more readily at a low cost or free by the government. Contraceptive methods are being educated to students at a much younger age nowadays, which is actually helpful for population control. In some countries access to birth control has become more prevalent throughout hospitals and universities. Access to safe, appropriate and affordable family planning and abortion care has improved over time, but significant barriers remain, especially where health care systems are weak. Barriers to family planning access include lack of knowledge about contraception, limited choices, high costs, and limited supplies. If amendments can be made to improve access to birth control, population control will also become less of a concern for governments.
Lastly, if the government ends all policies that reward parents financially based on the number of children they have, then population in some countries would also decrease. Particularly in the United States, the government provides financial benefits aimed at helping parents by linking these to the number of children they have. This may also pertain to other parts of the world, but if the government stops financial rewards based on the number of children in the household then population can also be better controlled. Tax control is an effective way of population control, but there are many other alternatives that can be taken into use as opposed to raising unneeded costs.
Although population control is a predominant issue in society today, measures can be taken to minimize its negative effects. Sexual education classes should be reinforced more in schools, birth control methods should be more accessible, and government benefits related to how many children are in a household should be eliminated. If these methods are utilized, society would be better regulated without having to raise taxes.