Is the US government doing anything to control population growth?

Answer 1

By law a nation cannot control, or attempt to control the Birth Rate of its population.

Addition:

International Law: is both jus gentium & jus inter gentes - the law of nations and agreements among nations (international treaties, and proclamations)

Application of International law: Beginning with the Nuremberg Trials (1947) and re-stated in Bosnia v. Serbia (2007); the International Court of Justice has stated that international law applies to all nations, even if they are not members of the United Nations or signatories to its treaties.

International laws on Pregnancy: The law in question began with the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment for the Crime of Genocide, 78 U.N.T.S. 277 it has been extended to other acts by the United Nations such as:

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights; pre-amble plus amendments
• Teheran Declaration, quoting: "Parents have a basic right to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and a right to adequate education and information in this respect."
• Declaration on Social Progress and Development, adopted 1974
• The Cairo Programme (1994)
• The Beijing Platform (1995)
• The United Nations Population Fund: which the US withdrew from in protest of China's activities under Regan

See links at bottom (to understand international law and human rights).

Additional Answer:

It is wrong to say that "By law a nation cannot control, or attempt to control the birth rate of its population."

China does. Since 1979, China has had a law limiting couples to one child in an effort to keep its population under control.

Philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment concluded that the primary duty of any government was to promote the general welfare of its citizens. Any sovereign nation may determine that the overall general welfare of the country would best be served by curbing out of control population growth.

While the concept of limiting couples to any number of children may be anathema to the idea of personal liberty and freedom of choice, the truth is that sovereign nations have the right to take such measures and pass such laws that, in their opinion, promote the general welfare of their own country.

Regarding the United Nations Convention for Prevention for Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, it is not a "law" that says that a nation may not control or attempt to control its own population. It is a treaty among many countries to prevent and punish the crime of genocide.

The Convention is not a law, because it does not bind all nations. It binds only those nations that voluntarily sign it and/or become parties to it. This is what it says:

Article 1

The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish.

and

Article 5

The Contracting Parties undertake to enact, in accordance with their respective Constitutions, the necessary legislation to give effect to the provisions of the present Convention, and, in particular, to provide effective penalties for persons guilty of genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in article III.

In addition, the Convention is a treaty that calls for the prevention and punishment of "genocide" not population control. Therefore it is misleading to say that it is a law that prohibits a nation from controlling or attempting to control population growth. This is what it says:

Article 2

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

In other words, the Convention prevents the nation-parties who agreed to it from doing something "with intent to destroy."Certainly, measures for population control do have the effect of preventing births, but unless they are effected with the intent to destroy a particular group then they are not "genocide." If they are not "genocide", then they are not prohibited by the Convention.

There is a great debate as to whether China's One Child Policy is or is not "genocide" within the meaning of the Convention, but it is clear that the Convention is not a "law" that prohibits nations from controlling or attempting to control their own populations.

Various citations to international law are appropriate to a limited degree in the first answer.

First it does not address the exact question, which is should a country make efforts at population control. The first answer points to "law" that say they "cannot." This is not the same as "should not." As to whether they "should not", even the UN conventions recognize that overpopulation results in poverty and that population control is sometimes warranted in an effort to protect human rights as well.

Second, it does not distinguish between measures of forced population control and voluntary population control. Certainly, forced or involuntary measures become human rights violations. Many countries , even the United States, take some measures aimed at population control such as funding abortions, providing planned parenthood information and providing contraceptive devices all free of charge in some instances. These are all methods of "population control." They simply don't have the stigma of forced or involuntary methods that the term "population control" has taken on.

Third, the United Nations, for whatever reason or motive, has not demanded that China discontinue its One Child Policy, even though, it would seem that it has the power to do so if the "international laws" cited in the links were applicable as stated. Not only has the UN not intervened in this policy, but one of its agencies, the United Nations Population Fund has offices in 32 counties in China actively helping China in certain population matters. If the UN felt that China was breaking the law against population control, it would not be active in this manner.

There is, as stated above, great debate over the issue. Certain governments, the United States for one, believe that China's methods amount to a denial of human rights. There is no doubt that some of China's methods amount to a denial of human rights. Nevertheless, the question asked whether nations should control its population in any way. The first answer is that by law, they cannot. That answer is not totally correct.

Answer 2

Not really, there are no specific initiatives in place and certainly no regulations or laws associated with population growth.

Answer 3

China.