Male reproductive health refers to a man's ability to procreate, to bring a living being into existence. Without male reproductive ability, the human species would literally cease to exist. So male reproductive health is not only an important component of men's health; it is also essential to human survival itself.

But if one women's rights advocate has her way, male reproductive health may become a non-issue.

Martha Burk is the Chair of the National Council of Women's Organizations (www.womensorganizations.org), a network of over 100 women's organizations. She is also the President of the Center for Advancement of Public Policy in Washington, DC. Martha Burk is well-known for her recent efforts to require the Augusta National Golf Club to admit women as members. But there is a soft under-belly to the Martha Burk story.

Writing in the Nov./Dec. 1997 issue of Ms. Magazine, Ms. Burk proposed a novel solution to the abortion controversy: the mandatory sterilization of men. In her article, "The Sperm Stops Here," Ms. Burk touted this solution: "Mandatory contraception beginning at puberty, with the rule relaxed only for procreation under the right circumstances (he can afford it and has a willing partner) and for the right reasons (determined by a panel of experts, and with the permission of his designated female partner)."

Burk's entire article can be read here. Burk also believes that controlling male fertility would not a hard to enforce: "The fertility authorities could use a combination of punishments for men who failed to get the implants and for doctors who removed them without proper authorization. The men could be required to adopt one orphan per infraction and rear her or him until adulthood."

Human rights advocates have rightly condemned Communist China for forcing women who have more than one child to be sterilized.

Who would have believed that an even more intrusive strategy, applied to men even before they conceived their first child, would now be openly advocated in the United States of America?

Here's Martha Burk's email address:capp-at-capponline.org

-Carey Roberts