Call for enabling couples to make informed reproductive choices

Speakers at the launch of the 2023 State of World Population Report (SWOP) at Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (Szabist) on Thursday emphasised that whereas couples had the right to decide the number of children they wanted, the government needed to ensure that they had correct information and essential services to make informed reproductive choices.

The report, titled '8 Billion Lives, Infinite Possibilities: The Case for Rights and Choices', was launched globally in April 2023. It presents the latest trends about population growth or decline, fertility rates, reproductive health, family planning and migration around the globe.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) representative in Pakistan, Dr Luay Shabaneh, said that as per the report, high or low fertility in a country was not a problem. "The problem or solution concerned the fact that if people are enjoying their rights," he explained.

"When a couple decides to have a baby, they do not look at our population plans but at their own circumstances. The government, civil society, private sector and activists must ensure that all the couples have correct information and proper services to enable them to make their own decision about whether to have two or 10 children, and are aware of the potential consequences of their decision, including economic implications.

“Nobody is entitled to make decisions on their behalf. Women should be able to take a responsible decision with their husbands and they are the ones responsible for their decisions," the UNFPA representative said.

Quoting the report, he emphasised that the solution for climate change did not lie in reducing the population size because more than two thirds of the world's population resided in the countries that were not significant contributors to climate change or environmental deterioration.

The impact of population and demography was not the main factor contributing to the deterioration caused by climate change, Dr Shabaneh added.

Moreover, he said, gender equality played a crucial role in addressing various demographic indicators. The governments should not solely plan for families but concentrate on the overall well-being of the state. To achieve this, he suggested three approaches: Firstly, providing high-quality sustainable contraception services that aligned with women's preferences; secondly, ensuring the availability of comprehensive information regarding health and family planning; and thirdly, reaching out to the areas where access to education is limited.

He also stressed the significance of respecting the cultural values and norms of each nation when implementing fertility policies.

The UNFPA representative said all the nations across the globe had anxiety about population. Both countries with growing populations and those with declining populations were anxious about their respective situations, he added.

He pointed out that Pakistan had a long way to go in gender equality although the country had too many prominent champion females.

He said we should bring unintended pregnancies to zero as couples as well as the government did not want them. He called for making family planning more effective to reach out to places where unintended pregnancies were high.

Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho highlighted the progress made by Sindh in the area of family planning, saying the province had enacted a reproductive healthcare rights bill to empower women to choose the number of children they wanted to have.

She said the bill was comprehensive in a way that it included increased government responsibility to ensure accessible reproductive healthcare services and safe delivery systems at all health facilities. The law also aimed at providing free access to a wide range of contraceptives to everyone, she added.

The minister said one of the main concerns was very little knowledge within society and communities about contraception and reproductive health. She stressed that this gap needed to be bridged to improve the prevailing situation.

"Every child that is born should have the best opportunities in life," she said and opined, "If there are unintended pregnancies, most of these women go for abortions and the rate of abortion as means of contraception is very high in Pakistan that should not be the case because after all every child is to be born if he is conceived."

The minister said the government was responsible to ensure the availability and accessibility of contraceptives and information for women.

The event was also attended by senior government officials, consul generals of different countries, SZABIST President Shahnaz Wazir Ali, heads of national and international organisations, development experts, researchers, and Szabist faculty members and students.