The New Millennium: The Ascendancy of Antiabortion Politics and Millennium Development Goals

Abstract

Large international conferences sponsored by the United Nations over past decades have provided the marching orders for international population policy and so we necessarily give them considerable attention. Strong currents have been running through these policy discussions. One rises from the very legitimate demands of women for recognition of their grievances over the second-class treatment they often receive in societies in which their importance as members of society is slighted. Another flows from the supposed high ground claimed by conservative forces opposed primarily and most openly to abortion and modern methods of fertility regulation—as well as a general resistance to social changes they are not happy to accept.