Fixating on overpopulation (Letters, 19 October) places the blame for the climate emergency on the bodies of the most disadvantaged women in the global south, the very people who are most affected by its impact. It is overconsumption that is the issue – the wealthiest countries with the lowest levels of fertility produce the highest levels of the emissions that drive global heating.
As the UN Population Fund warns, a narrow focus on birth control risks reproductive injustice. A reproductive justice approach would ensure all women’s sexual and reproductive rights are upheld while shifting the responsibility for addressing the emergency to those most responsible for it.
Naomi Delap
Director, Birth Companions
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