Peace Without Poison

Prime Minister Sir Vere Bird (1981-1994), the first Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda aftergaining independence from Britain, inherited the program of covert depopulation form theBritish and kept it in place until 1991 when he stopped it. His successor, Sir Lester Bryant Bird(1994-2004), reintroduced it in 1997, thus three years after taking office. The program has beencontinued by his successor, Baldwin Spencer (2004-2014), and remains in place today under theincumbent Gaston Browne (since June 2014).Antigua and Barbuda accomplished this reduction in fertility first through involuntarysterilizations and more recently through fluoridated salt, as in all CARICOM countries. Itcertainly did not reach replacement level fertility due to contraceptives since the country’scontraceptive prevalence rate has never exceeded 53%, and before 1980, when it experienced themost rapid decline in fertility, fewer than 30% used contraceptives. Abortion is also not a factorin the fertility decline since it is illegal and permitted only to save a woman’s life.Antigua and Barbuda is in stage four of the demographic transition.36 | P a g e