Today, family planning decisions tend to be all about the desires of parents, with little or no regard for the rights and living conditions of the prospective child and people who are already here. Do two adults have the right to bring a child into a world that’s a dystopian hell? Or do they at least have some responsibility NOT to? If the number of children you decide to conceive will have a direct impact on the quality of life those children experience, should that consequence be factored into your family size decision?

These questions are more relevant now than ever. Today, more and more young women and couples are questioning whether having children is the right thing to do in a world destined for tough times.

A new paper in the journal, Social Change, proposes a more child-centered and community-centered approach. A Human Rights Approach to Planning Families was authored by our guests on this podcast, Sarah Bexell and Catharina Graff-Hughey, along with attorney and Having Kids founder Carter Dillard and animal rights attorney Matthew Hamity.

This episode is the first of several that will share content from – or suggested by – the April 2019 forum Tackling the Population Taboo: Creating a Sustainable Future. The forum was organized by Maureen Cohen Harrington, special projects manager at the nonprofit, Having Kids.

This episode was published September 30, 2019.