Not just elders, dear Ian. If the WTS were truly aware of the problem, they would have the rank and file rear large families like the Mormons.
I cannot count how many sisters in my age group that I have met who had their tubes tied, or brothers who had vasectomies (info which was related to me by their wives, of course). I remember a conversation that I had with one particular sister. I was becoming ill, and had begun taking medications to control my illness, still my husband and I wanted children nonetheless, and we were worried about any possible side effects my medication would have on any future pregnancy. I never forgot her reply:
"Well, that's nice, but if you don't have them now, you could always have them later -- in the new system."
I am sure that she meant well -- she was an elders' wife, very sweet, and not at all standoffish, as quite a few of them are. But that just shows how much the Borgs' mind control affects even decent people. And I agree that precious few of them fully realize the consequences of such actions. There were also a few sisters that thought that my wish to have a family was selfish; I was not putting Jehovah ahead of my base, physical desires. Excuse me? How could the desire for children be selfish? I thought it was a divine commandment (Genesis 1:28). This is a method of control that the Society has trotted out again (Rutherfords' 3rd Armageddon during WWII), and again (Knorrs' 1975 Armageddon). There is this unwritten rule that you should sacrifice even the God-given gift of procreation upon the idolatrous altar that is the WatchTower Society. It would be nice if the younger couples could talk to some of the childless older couples that regret listening to the asinine drivel that came from this most false of prophets.
Oh wait -- they cannot. Either those older ones are dead, having sadly spent their lives in vain, or fled the Society without looking back, or are still there, effectively muzzled, because we all know that the WTS will let nothing interfere in its display of 'godly devotion' -- even if means persecuting elderly people who have dedicated their whole lives to what they thought was sacred service, but in reality were servicing only the wallets and egos of the ungodly men in Brooklyn.