Few would disagree that the world’s human population is spiralling out of control leading not only to irreversible damage to the planet but to the deaths of thousands of people every day through starvation and disease. Many leading scientists and environmentalists are warning governments that they need to act now before it is too late.

Last week one of the world’s most respected naturalists, Sir David Attenborough, when discussing the problems facing the planet and in particular the population explosion, said “People have pushed aside the question of population and sustainability and not considered it  because it is too awkward, embarrassing and difficult”.  When Attenborough’s career began in 1950 the world population was 2.5 billion and, sixty years on, it is now 7 billion. That increase has placed an incredible burden on the planet’s natural resources and, as Attenborough said,  “The fact is, if we don’t do something nature will. Quite simply, we will run out of food”. He emphasised that birth control is vital to not only help save the world but to prevent the horrific infant mortality rates in the third world.

It was therefore encouraging when it was announced last week that Melinda Gates, the billionaire philanthropist and wife of Bill Gates the Microsoft tycoon, would give £375 million to a campaign to provide contraception to women in the developing world. No doubt this will be unpopular with certain religious and liberal organisations but can religious or liberal beliefs ever be placed above the saving of human life?

It is estimated that 9,000 mothers and children die each day in the third world as a result of unwanted pregnancies and that reason alone has to justify the provision of contraception. Further, if contraception can lead to a reduction of the world’s population and the preservation of the planet then the argument is unassailable.