Reproductive justice and climate justice are two fights of the same nature.
The climate crisis is already quietly killing millions. It, along with other ecological crises, is set to potentially kill a billion humans and countless nonhumans—those least responsible for causing it. But here is a truth you will rarely hear: The death count predictions are premised on the current reproductive rights models, the ones that caused the crisis to begin with.
Those models treat the act of having children as based on parental autonomy rather than child equity—or the concept of all children having fair, prosperous living conditions. That means expectant mothers are not entitled to particular planning resources, the ones that would ensure birth and development conditions consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Changing to the latter model through initiatives like birth equity reparations that enable delay, investment and even relocation could save countless lives.
Similar to the concept of child equity, birth equity means ensuring fair, humane and comfortable conditions for those giving birth, regardless of factors like race, location or economic status. Birth equity is linked to the climate crisis in many ways. For example, birthing conditions are typically far worse in areas that are more negatively affected by climate change than in places that are currently better off.
What would it take to ensure that women harmed by the climate crisis can have children in a safer place and with the right resources? Why would we fundamentally exacerbate the crisis by having children under the same policies that created the crisis to begin with?
It requires including children’s rights—including climate and biodiversity restoration—into the sexual health and reproductive rights regime, and elevating those rights as the most basic norm.
Decisions about reproduction are not made in a vacuum; they have a significant impact on the environment. Many choose to have children without thinking about how it affects the environment and causes resource depletion and overpopulation.
Currently, reproductive rights models neglect these variables, which results in unsustainable family sizes that put stress on the planet’s ecosystems. Reproductive decisions and regulations that incorporate environmental considerations (such as greater access to birth control and mandatory availability of knowledge about family planning) can lessen these effects and encourage the development of more sustainable practices, which would in turn promote greater child equity.
Solution: Self-Determination and Birth Equity
We can change the standard by asking one question of ourselves and others: Are we taking into consideration the conditions in which children are born and raised?
This can help us identify “greenwashers”—those who feign environmental advocacy for their own benefit. By ignoring children’s rights and not striving for equity, we are repeating the same mistake that created the climate crisis.
The sea of infant mortality we have seen for decades, evidence of worldwide child abuse, and the way upstream growth undid “downstream” efforts to protect animals and the environment all show this. There can be no functional protections because the entitlements go the other way, isolating would-be parents from objective values that, through policy, would protect the children they have.
All this happened because world leaders pushed ideas of parental autonomy in which lowered fertility means a “baby bust” rather than equity as the standard for reproductive rights.
Self-determination, achieved by basing political legitimacy on children’s rights, would ensure women’s right to family planning incentives and entitlements that enable fair birthing conditions and developmental equity. This would ensure they have children at a time and place and with resources that allow those children to thrive. This would also constitute the most just form of climate reparations.
Global Collaboration for Climate Justice and Birth Equity
The world must work together to solve the climate problem and achieve birth fairness. Cooperation among nations is required to develop and execute policies that promote climate reparations and sustainable family planning. It is possible to create a worldwide movement for birth equality and climate justice by encouraging global cooperation and exchanging best practices.
Call to Action: Concrete Steps for Implementing Birth Equity
To move toward true equity, we need actionable steps that engage all sectors of society. Here are specific actions that can drive this transformation:
- Policy reform: Advocate for policy changes at local, national and international levels that prioritize birth equity and integrate children’s rights into reproductive laws.
- Educational campaigns: Launch educational campaigns to raise awareness about the importance of birth equity and the ecological impact of reproductive choices. Support projects like Seed for Future Nigeria and partner in sponsoring these initiatives.
- Community engagement: Engage communities in discussions about sustainable family planning and the benefits of birth equity, ensuring diverse voices are heard.
- Corporate responsibility: Encourage businesses to adopt and promote practices that support birth equity, including through corporate social responsibility initiatives.
- Research and innovation: Invest in research to develop innovative solutions for sustainable family planning and support for expectant mothers.
- International aid: Provide international aid to support birth equity initiatives in regions most affected by climate change and ecological degradation.
- Grassroots movements: Support grassroots movements that advocate for birth equity and hold governments and organizations accountable.
- Monitoring and evaluation: Establish mechanisms to monitor and evaluate the impact of birth equity policies, ensuring continuous improvement and accountability.
- Use decentralization in climate restoration projects, where many in positions of power evade this discussion and refuse to exit a political system that benefits them at a deadly cost to others. How they handle this issue—from their position of wealth and entitlement—screams that it’s not their life on the line. It is other lives, and other children’s lives, on the line. Their evasion ensures concentrations of white wealth and privilege.
By taking these steps, we can create a future where every child is born into conditions that allow them to thrive, contributing to a healthier planet and a more just society.
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