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Assuming that there is a population crisis in this country, the most basic question we must answer is this. Is killing innocent human beings a legitimate way to drive population numbers down? Those who suggest that abortion is a good way to control the population will quickly assert that embryos and fetuses aren't really human beings yet. This, of course, is the very point that they must prove before they can even begin to make such an argument. Unfortunately for them, this is a point they can't prove, and so they simply assume it is true and move on.
Beyond the fact that overpopulation is not a sufficient moral rationale for killing off a portion of the population, the fact remains that the birth rate in the U.S. is only one of the factors influencing population growth. The Centers for Disease Control tell us in a 2004 report that the U.S. birth rate rose 1% in 2003 after 12 straight years of decline (2002 marked the lowest U.S. birth rate since national data has been available). Nevertheless, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that the U.S. population continues to grow by about one person every 12 seconds. Where is this growth coming from? Negative Population Growth tells us that while the U.S. birth rate has declined over the last decade, immigration has gone through the roof. They state on their website that the "foreign-born population in the U.S. is now 31.1 million, a record 57 percent increase since 1990." Add to that this finding from page 69 of The Centers for Disease Control's 2004 Health Report.
In 2002 a total of 2.4 million deaths were reported in the United States. The overall age-adjusted death rate was 42 percent lower in 2002 than it was in 1950. The reduction in overall mortality during the last half of the 20th century was driven mostly by declines in mortality for such leading causes of death as heart disease, stroke, and unintentional injuries.
In summary, birth rates have stayed roughly the same or declined. Immigration has increased by 57% since 1990 and life expectancy has increased by 42% since 1950. Of the three factors contributing to recent population growth, it is fair to say that the birth rate is the least significant of the three. Add to this the general U.S. population growth chart listed on the Negative Population Growth website. Since 1980, the three years with the highest increase in population growth were 1990 (1.06%), 1991 (1.07%), and 1992 (1.13%). These are the same three years for which the U.S. abortion rate was the highest in the nation's history. Since the greatest increase in recent population growth corresponds with the highest abortion rates, we are given further evidence that something besides the birth rate is significantly influencing population growth.
In the U.S. today, fewer babies are being born, people are living longer than ever and more and more immigrants are coming in. As such, the population at large is growing much older. From a sociological standpoint, an increasingly older population may pose a far greater threat to society than a supposed population explosion. Whenever a society fails to replace itself with sufficient numbers of young people, it becomes a society that cannot survive. Fewer children today will equal fewer parents tomorrow which will equal fewer children still in the generations to come. Abortion has already eliminated tens of millions of people from the American tax base. Where there were more than four wage earners for every retiree in 1980, that number is estimated to be at 2 to 1 by 2020 and only one and a half to one by 2040. The result? You do the math. One worker for every retired person? Social Security taxes would be beyond imagination. So long as abortion wipes out the young people, we will be left with a society that is older and older, a society where grandparents far outnumber children and where almost no one is left to pay for it all.
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