Choices Affecting Population 1990 General Resolution

BECAUSE we believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every individual;

BECAUSE we cherish the earth and seek to preserve the environment for future generations;

BECAUSE we hold a deep reverence for all life; and

BECAUSE we recognize that what we choose today will affect the quality of life for our children, our grandchildren, and all generations to come; and

WHEREAS tens of thousands of children die of starvation every day;

WHEREAS 500 million more children suffer homelessness, poverty, and malnutrition;

WHEREAS our current exponential rate of population growth would add one billion people to the world population in the next twelve years;

WHEREAS increasing population is frequently associated with increasing the pollution of the water, air, soil, and ozone shield, and further depleting the earth's finite resources;

WHEREAS the crush of overpopulation often contributes to aggressive and destructive behavior; and

WHEREAS the United States (US) government has cut back its support for family planning programs;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), in order to protect the environment and promote quality of life for future generations, calls upon its congregations and individual Unitarian Universalists to:

  1. Promote education on the morality and ultimate economic, environmental, and social necessity of couples planning their family size;
  2. Promote age-appropriate sex education for all children;
  3. Encourage the use of contraception to prevent unwanted pregnancies and support the right to choose abortion;
  4. Promote medical research, accelerated governmental approval, and the commercial development of safe and more effective means of birth control, such as RU486, currently unavailable in both Canada and the United States;
  5. Advocate in legislatures, courts, media, and schools the ethical position that the well-being of future generations requires the right to choose contraception and abortion now; and
  6. Advocate that US government restore funding and support for family planning programs, including those which may offer the choices of contraception and abortion.