“Millions of women and young people in developing countries don’t have access to information to plan their family. They don’t have health services and modern methods of contraception. This is not only a violation of their right to decide the number, timing, and spacing of their children, it’s also a question of equity as women everywhere should have the same ability to determine this fundamental part of their lives.”

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s World Population Day statement went a step further than some of the timid diplomatic proclamations. Clinton added “number” to the list of women’s rights. The usual, beat around the bush, list goes like this: “the right to decide the timing and spacing of their children.” So bravo to Hillary for skating out there onto the thin ice and actually suggesting that family planning might be used to limit the number of offspring. But, come on, Hillary, grow a pair. What do we have to do to give you diplomats the courage next year to add a sentence about the world being overpopulated to their proclamations?