Forthcoming Articles
Perspective

Is Legal Abortion Required for a Sustainable Population?

PDF
  • Richard Grossman
Richard Grossman
Fort Lewis College
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3197/whpjps.6388783180045

Published 2025-12-16

Keywords

  • Sustainable population,
  • Abortion,
  • Replacement fertility,
  • Menstrual regulation,
  • TFR,
  • Fertility
    • ...More
    Less

How to Cite

Grossman, Richard. 2025. “Is Legal Abortion Required for a Sustainable Population?”. The Journal of Population and Sustainability, December. https://doi.org/10.3197/whpjps.6388783180045.

Copyright (c) 2022 Richard Grossman

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

Abstract

Humanity’s impact on the planet has surpassed sustainable limits, driven by population growth, consumption and limited efficiency gains (Bradshaw et al., 2021; Ehrlich and Holdren, 1971). While consumption in the Global North remains excessive, welfare improvements in the Global South require some growth in consumption. A smaller global population would aid sustainability, yet the current population exceeds 8 billion – well above most estimates of a sustainable size (Crist et al., 2022). Although modern contraception has reduced fertility, over 120 million unintended pregnancies occur annually (Bearak et al., 2020), and induced abortion remains vital for achieving desired family size and stabilising population growth (Tietze and Bongaarts, 1957). This article examines countries with total fertility rates (TFR) at or below replacement level (2.1), where abortion laws remain restrictive, and explores how access to legal abortion influences reproductive autonomy, population stabilisation and long-term environmental sustainability.

PDF

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

  1. Bearak, J.A., A. Popinchalk, B. Ganatra, A.-B.. Moller, Ö. Tunçalp, C. Beavin, L. Kwok and L. Alkema. 2020. ‘Unintended pregnancy and abortion by income, region, and the legal status of abortion: estimates from a comprehensive model for 1990–2019’. Lancet Global Health (8): e1152–1161. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(20)30315-6
  2. Boersma, A.A., J.F. Alberts, J. de Bruijn, B. Meyboom-de Jong and G. Kleiverda. 2012. ‘Termination of pregnancy in Curaçao: Need for improvement of sexual and reproductive healthcare’. Global Journal of Health Science 4 (3): 30–38. https://doi.org/10.5539/gjhs.v4n3p30
  3. Bongaarts, J. and C.F. Westoff. 2006. ‘The potential role of contraception in reducing abortion’. Studies in Family Planning 31 (5):193–202. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4465.2000.00193.x
  4. Bradshaw, C.J.A., P.R. Ehrlich, A. Beattie, G. Ceballos, E. Crist, J. Diamond, R. Dirzo, A.H. Ehrlich, J. Harte, M.E. Harte, G. Pyke, P.H. Raven, W.J. Ripple, F. Saltré, C. Turnbull, M. Wackernagel and D.T. Blumstein. 2021. ‘Underestimating the challenges of avoiding a ghastly future’. Frontiers in Conservation Science 1: 615419. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcosc.2020.615419
  5. Campbell, M.M., N. Prata and M. Potts. 2013. ‘The impact of freedom on fertility decline’. Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care 39: 44–50. https://doi.org/10.1136/jfprhc-2012-100405
  6. Center for Reproductive Rights. ‘The World’s Abortion Laws’. https://reproductiverights.org/maps/worlds-abortion-laws/?country=NZL&category[1350]=1350 (accessed 12 September 2025).
  7. Chaurasia, Aalok. 2020. ‘Population effects of increase in world energy use and CO2 emissions: 1990–2019’. The Journal of Population and Sustainability 5 (1): 87–125. https://doi.org/10.3197/jps.2020.5.1.87
  8. Cohen, J. 1995. How Many People Can the Earth Support? New York: W.W. Norton.
  9. Crist, E., W.J. Ripple, P.R. Ehrlich, W.E. Rees and C. Wolf. 2022. ‘Scientists’ warning on population’. Science of the Total Environment 845. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157166
  10. Devereux, G. 1976. A Study of Abortion in Primitive Societies, rev. ed. New York: International Universities Press.
  11. Ehrlich, P.R. and J.P. Holdren. 1971. ‘The impact of population growth’. Science 171 (3977), 1212–1217. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.171.3977.1212
  12. Ganatra, B., C. Gerdts, C. Rossier, B.R. Johnson, O. Tunçalp, A. Assifi, G. Sedgh, S. Singh, A. Bankole, A. Popinchalk, J. Bearak, Z. Kang and L. Alkema. 2017. ‘Global, regional, and subregional classification of abortions by safety, 2010–14: estimates from a Bayesian hierarchical model’. Lancet 390: 2372–2381. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31794-4
  13. Hossain, A., I. Maddow-Zimet, L. Remez and S. Singh. 2012. ‘Menstrual regulation, unsafe abortion and maternal health in Bangladesh’. https://www.guttmacher.org/report/menstrual-regulation-unsafe-abortion-and- maternal-health-bangladesh (accessed 12 September 2025).
  14. Kessel, E., W.E. Brenner and G.H. Stathes. 1975. ‘Menstrual regulation in family planning services’. American Journal of Public Health 65 (7): 731–34. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.65.7.731
  15. Matanle, P., L.A. Sáez-pérez, Y. Li and E. Buehler. 2022. ‘Localizing and Globalizing the Depopulation Dividend: theory and evidence from three countries in three world regions’. Bölge Çalışmaları Dergisi 1 (1): 1–28. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/2648030 (accessed 12 September 2025).
  16. Mumford, S.D. and E. Kessel. 1984. ‘Is wide availability of abortion essential to national population growth control programs? Experiences of 116 countries’. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology 149 (6): 639–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/0002-9378(84)90249-7
  17. Pheterson, G. and Y. Azize. 2008. ‘Abortion within and around the law in the Caribbean’. Puerto Rico Health Sciences Journal 27 (1): 93–99. https://prhsj.rcm.upr.edu/index.php/prhsj/article/view/42/34 (accessed 12 September 2025).
  18. Samways, David. 2022. ‘Population and sustainability: Reviewing the relationship between population growth and environmental change’. The Journal of Population and Sustainability 6 (1):15–41. https://doi.org/10.3197/JPS.63772239426891
  19. Sully E.A., A. Biddlecom, J.E. Darroch, T. Riley, L.S. Ashford, N. Lince-Deroche, L. Firestein and R. Murro. 2020. ‘Adding it up: Investing in sexual and reproductive health 2019’. New York: Guttmacher Institute. https://www.guttmacher.org/report/adding-it-up-investing-in-sexual- reproductive-health-2019 (Accessed 9 December 2025).
  20. Tietze, C. and J. Bongaarts. 1975. ‘Fertility rates and abortion rates: Simulations of family limitation’. Studies in Family Planning 6 (5): 114–20. https://doi.org/10.2307/1964745
  21. United Nations. 2025. World Fertility 2024. UN DESA/POP/2024/TR/NO.11, https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa. pd/files/undesa_pd_2025_wfr_2024_final.pdf (accessed 10 September 2025).
  22. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024 (Complete version). https://population.un.org/wpp/ (accessed 2 September 2025).