A feed from http://www.population-matters.org/ of recent columns by Dr. Richard Grossman first published in the Durango (Colorado) Herald.
Republishing of the articles is encouraged with the request that they remain intact and are attributed to the author and initial publication in the Durango Herald. Questions can be directed to richard@population-matters.org
5 January 2025. Parenting isn’t for Everyone – When I was practicing, quite a few childless patients requested sterilization: “My profession keeps me too busy”, or “I’m concerned about the state of the world and don’t want to bring a child into a troublesome environment”, or “I don’t think I would be a good mother”. One woman, Elizabeth, came to me with […]
5 December 2024. News–Good and Bad – The really bad news is that we have elected a misogynistic felon with a narcissistic personality disorder. Even worse news is that people have fallen for Trump’s lies. There’s some good news, despite lots of disappointments. In my state, Colorado, almost 2/3rds of voters chose to amend our constitution to […]
8 October 2024. Making Family Planning Available to All People – The Cairo Conference “Programme of Action” includes a statement that all people should have the right to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children. Unhappily, many people have been forced to follow the old adage “the rich get richer and the poor get children”. Fortunately, this adage has been […]
8 October 2024. Realizing Quality Families – I was walking down the street in Mountain View, California when I noticed a man coming toward me wearing a white T-shirt with small black lettering: “SEEDLESS”. I wonder if he was advertising his vasectomy? Vasectomy motivators in Northern Sumatra use humor in their presentations to men about vasectomy. Perhaps they should wear […]
6 August 2024. Drought – There isn’t a shortage of water so much as a longage of people Paraphrasing Garrett Hardin This morning I cut down a little piñon tree. It had died during the winter, and was unsightly this spring with dead needles clinging to its branches. It had looked stressed last summer so I had […]
6 August 2024. A Medical Mystery, Solved? – There are many mysteries in medicine. One of the mysteries that has plagued me for years may now have a solution. When I was in medical school I learned about Stein-Leventhal syndrome. Women with this condition tend to be overweight and have excess body hair. Their ovaries have lots of little cysts, and […]
22 May 2024. New Contraceptive Methods – There are three pieces of good news about birth control methods. One is very old, but never really studied, one is brand new and one futuristic. I spent some time in Paris studying French when I was in college. I also learned about a male method of birth control from a research assistant […]
30 April 2024. Childfree – We were listening to Ann Patchett’s book of essays “These Precious Days” when “There are no children here” started. It is a remarkable essay in 23 parts, explaining why Patchett is not a mother. One of the micro-essays upset me a bit. Patchett met a woman who had always known that she didn’t […]
2 April 2024. Self-Managed Abortion – Image from the Plan C website. “A safe abortion with pills requires only three things: accurate information, quality medications, and mutual respect and trust.” Doctors Without Borders In the past there was a sharp division between safe (legal) abortions and unsafe (illegal) abortions. Recently that line […]
4 March 2024. The Truth about Abortion – Although there are many lies told about abortion, now we have the truth.