Symposium on Population Law: The Environment, Population, and Women's Human Rights

This article examines coercive pro-natalist and anti-natalist policies that have been implemented, for example in Romania (pro-natalist), China, India, and Indonesia (anti-natalist), and describes the negative social consequences of these policies. The author shows that not only are such policies socially harmful, they are also largely ineffectual in achieving population objectives. The author then discusses the human rights implications of population policies, as well as the difficulties of relying on a rights-based approach in the reproductive health context. Finally, the author examines the causes of fertility decline, particularly the role of women in demographic transition. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - Reproductive Freedom, International]