There is undoubtedly a direct correlation between increased female education and declining birth rates. Desirable for its own sake, female education is a key, long-term factor in reducing global population growth. And yet there are an estimated 500 million women worldwide who either want no more children or wish to postpone or space pregnancy but who have no access to family planning services. Millions lack access to any birth control whatsoever. Globally, a quarter of all pregnancies are terminated, many illegally, and often with disastrous health consequences. As perhaps a third of all children born are unwanted, universally available birth control would have an immediate and dramatic impact on abortion levels and population growth. Simply by eliminating unwanted births current growth numbers would be reduced by more than a third.
