Earlier quoted context omitted.
It caused harn because it was stupidly implemented not because it's generally bad. But btw. many western countries have a shrinking population since years to a degree where that's an problem. But this also means that the countries which have to take (reasonable) actions include many contribute which often can't afford more reasonable actions :/
There's no population bomb. Let's please lay Malthus to rest already. According to some projections, world population will peak sometime in the 2040s and then start to decline.
Some as simple as reducing poverty.
Some by making it most viable to have one or two children.
Some (China) by limiting the number of children to roughly two.
...
Not all of this policies are good, not all are intentionally made to have that effect.
Still if you want to shrink a countries populations there are much more ways then a hard limit to the number of children (Which I think will hardly ever play out well.).