Dear Editor,
With human reproduction aggressively promoted by conservative candidates, my recent return to Georgia from a “free state” as a woman of childbearing age was difficult. At the same time, Earth’s life support systems can no longer support over 8 billion people worldwide, species extinction and global temperatures are rapidly rising, and the impacts of climate change threaten food supplies, ecosystems, and human health.
The stigmatization of birth control while simultaneously promoting religious reproduction indicates an extreme distance from far more important, existential human problems.
Empowering women in terms of self-determination and birth control is the only ethically acceptable means of sustainably slowing exponential population growth.
If there were more political support for women’s health care or social programs to counteract the runaway inflation currently overwhelming Georgia families, I might be more sympathetic to this over-the-top focus on women’s reproductive rights. Instead, the pointless advocacy for higher birth rates at the expense of women’s personal freedoms across the state seems to be a diversionary tactic that Georgia politicians continue to use to fail to meet the needs of the people.
Drake Lee-Patterson, Center for a Sustainable Coast, St. Simons Island, Georgia.
