Peace Without Poison

In 1998, Pakalitha Mosisili became Prime Minister of Lesotho and remained in office until 2012,time during which the country’s total fertility rate declined from 4.5 to 3.1 children per womaneven though the contraceptive prevalence rate was below 40% and this drop in fertility can onlybe explained by the use of involuntary methods of birth control.The use of involuntary method of birth control, namely sterilizing vaccines, came in effect afterthe 1994 United Nations-sponsored International Conference on Population and Development.By 2004, Lesotho under Prime Minister Mosisili had also formulated a population policy whoseaim was to achieve replacement-level fertility by 2011; a goal it has missed.The current Prime Minister, Tom Thabane (in office since June 2012) appears to have put theprogram on hold. To date the following practices are employed: vasectomy and femalesterilization, combined and progestin-only pills, injectables, IUDs, spermicides, diaphragms,cervical caps, condoms, female condoms and implants. Injectables, condoms, and eithercombined or progestin-only pills are the most common contraceptives used.Lesotho’s contraceptive prevalence rate, which has never exceeded 48%, has never been a factorin the country’s drop in fertility from nearly 6 to 2.8 children per woman to date. Nor has theabortion rate been a factor since abortions are illegal and performed very rarely and only to savea woman’s life.Lesotho has been rewarded for its war on fertility with a growing GDP, which began to rise assoon as fertility had dropped substantially by the early 1990s.450 | P a g e