Stephen Douglas Mumford (born 1942) is an American author on

fertility Fertility in colloquial terms refers the ability to have offspring. In demographic contexts, fertility refers to the actual production of offspring, rather than the physical capability to reproduce, which is termed fecundity. The fertility rate ...

and

population growth Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. The World population, global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 8.2 billion in 2025. Actual global human population growth amounts to aroun ...

.Curriculum vitae
retrieved 2011-01-22.

Education

Mumford was born on August 28, 1942, in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

. He did his undergraduate studies in

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

, graduating in 1966. He then earned a master's degree from the University of Texas School of Public Health in 1971 and finished a doctorate from the same institution in 1975.

Career

From 1977 to 1983 he worked as a scientist and research group leader with the International Fertility Research Program in

Research Triangle Park, North Carolina Research Triangle Park (RTP) is the largest research park in the United States; it occupies in North Carolina and hosts more than 300 companies and 65,000 workers. It is owned and managed by the Research Triangle Foundation, a private non-profi ...

. Since 1984 he has been president of the Center for Research on Population and Security, also located in Research Triangle Park.

Positions on abortion and sterilization

In 1978, Mumford testified before the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

that he believed world population growth, and immigration to the U.S. driven by population growth, to be national security issues that should be addressed by the U.S. military. He has advocated the reduction of birth rates in

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed Secondary sector of the economy, industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. ...

by large-scale

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

, and by drug-induced permanent mass sterilization, and has been involved in the international distribution of

quinacrine Mepacrine, also called quinacrine or by the trade names Atabrine or Atebrin, is a medication with several uses. It is related to chloroquine and mefloquine. Although available from compounding pharmacies, as of August 2020 approved formulation ...

to developing countries for sterilizing women there. He has strongly criticized the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

for its opposition to

population control Population control is the practice of artificially maintaining the size of any population. It simply refers to the act of limiting the size of an animal population so that it remains manageable, as opposed to the act of protecting a species from ...

and

contraception Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth control only be ...

.Article - Why the Church can't change

References

External links

an organization founded and directed by Mumford {{DEFAULTSORT:Mumford, Stephen D Living people American birth control activists University of Kentucky alumni University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston alumni 1942 births People from Louisville, Kentucky Critics of the Catholic Church UTHealth School of Public Health alumni