This has been bothering me...please read...?

you see on t.v. these foster parent plan or something, world vision, and they show how these children are dying and starving and living with HIV or AIDS passed on from their parents, and then they have no parents cause they died and they are alone (in africa or wherever this is). i have seen this on television since i was a little kid, and this is still like that. dont get me wrong, my heart goes out to these children, i wish i had all the money in the world or whatever i need to make all these children lives better...but since this has been going on forever, since ive watched this on t.v. when i was a kid....im just thinking why dont we or they ask people to send money to give those women out there birthcontrol???they are still obviously "doing it" and making babies...why though??when they know their living conditions and that their children or babies cant survive, why would they get pregnant and have kids still just to make them suffer??what do you think?

sounds good to me. Birth control is way cheaper than a child. I'll tell you what really makes me mad though. And I know I am going to get "slammed" for this. Why are we sending money (Oprah, Angelina Jolie) to Africa (other countries) when we have plenty if problems in our own country? There ARE starving children in America. The condition of AMERICAN innercity schools is deplorable. We apparently need to advertise it all over the TV and in other countries to get some money.

In many places in Africa, women are viewed as objects to their husbands. They don't have a choice but to have sex when HE wants to. Many times he can have more than one wife as well.
The females over there don't get to have any education, so they are dependant on the men.
I agree with you about the birth control thing. I've thought it for many years myself, but I feel like the women over there need to be able to get an education and become independant.
It's such a sad situation and the spread of AIDs is rampet over there.

Many people's religious views do not allow them to use birth control. Also birth control is expensive. Husbands would have to agree as well. In farming communities they NEED children to help on the farm.

Some of the problem is also that husbands cheat, without protection. You can hardly blame a woman who is a virgin when she is married, who doesn't stray who comes down with AIDs. And you also can't blame the prostitutes who have no other way to live.

One can (and does) wonder the same thing about people reproducing in the American ghetto.

I think the first thing to keep in mind is that the desire to reproduce is (1) strong, (2) near-universal.

If all you've known is a crummy (by our standards) life, you could still think, and hope, like people with non-'crummy' lives, that your children might have a better life than yours. I think that's also somewhat universal.

Of course there're all the problems with birth control, cultural curiousities, etc, mentioned by other posters. But telling _anybody_ that their life was too awful for them to have a family would be a tough sell even if they were struggling to feed themselves. The ability to 'make do' is also somewhat universal!

Which of course brings up the question of how much good those programs you're referring to do, which is a dreadful thing to think about in some ways, but an interesting economics question. Might they not be better served by programs that increased access to birth control? (A number of the programs are pretty religious...)

Did you ever think about this? The kids may be born in poverty. But, infant mortality rates are so high that parents are lucky if their children survive. Because a child grows up to help out the family. So, now that child can go get a job to support the family. And, now that child can help the parents when they're older and dying. And more than one child means networking. So, now 5 children is way better than just one to help the parents with money, etc... And, women in those developing countries are forced to have sex with their husbands. And, birth control means having to make people forget their cultural beliefs. Birth control isn't readily accepted by everyone. Not even in America. Think about how many people want to get rid of abortion, Plan B, and the Pill. Do you honestly believe that in all our freedom and "acceptance of birth control" that other countries are going to be the same or more so? Probably not.