Karin Kuhlemann is an expert on the ethics of family planning, and the impact of family planning on the future of the world. She has a message to share for World Population Day 2018.
Tell UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to recommend smaller families for all. Sign the petition.
Today, in anticipation of World Population Day on July 11th, the national child-protection organization Having Kids called upon the United Nations Secretary General to abandon the UN’s outdated family planning modeling in favor of a sustainable “smaller family” model. Having Kids will be peacefully leafleting in front of the UN headquarters tomorrow, urging Sec. Gen. António Guterres to issue a statement on family planning supporting the need for smaller families worldwide. The facts are crystal clear:
Having Kids Executive Director Anne Green said this: “We offer the child-first Fair Start family planning model as a sustainable alternative to the UN’s current free-for-all and isolationist model. The Fair Start model is cooperative rather than isolationist, is based upon binding sources of international law, and provides a clear human rights-based solution to the problems discussed above and a path forward.”
Having Kids is a 501(c)3 nonprofit nonprofit organization dedicated to reforming family planning by replacing parent-centered family planning models with the human rights-based and child-first Fair Start model.
The Brenn family speaks out to protect their kids’ future, and stop at two. In their own words:
“My husband and I both come from large families. The fact that we were ‘stopping at two’ still seemed an almost radical concept for many of our loved ones. This is why we’re speaking out. A smaller family really shouldn’t be a radical concept anymore.
The decision to have ‘only’ two children was not one we took lightly.
Our kiddos are fun, challenging, full of energy, and fill our lives with love and joy. Sure there are times (ok maybe once or twice) when we thought it would be fun to have a whole football team of kids. BUT…we want the best for them now and in their futures. That is one of the reasons we decided it was best for us to “stop at two”.
We also want to give each of them the time, love, resources, and attention they need and deserve. Additionally, we want to have time and energy left over to invest in our art and our community as we try to make the world they will live in a better place. Most importantly, we are well aware that given current fertility rates, the world is on course to add BILLIONS more people to our planet! It’s hard to even imagine. Such an increase in population will exacerbate climate change, mass extinction of other species, acidification of the oceans, mounting social pressures and conflicts, etc. Naturally, we want to avoid that our children would live in such a world.
So no… a smaller family should not be a radical concept.
Our choosing a smaller family where we do as much as we can to help our kids become good people and part of a thriving community, won’t be effective, however, if other parents aren’t willing to do the same.
Parents need to work together to build the future their kids deserve. They can’t do it alone.”
This is a simple fact: Better family planning, where smaller families invest more in each child, is the best way to help kids and protect the environment.
Will you speak out? Contact us at Info@HavingKids.org if so.
Each child’s freedom to succeed in life depends on better family planning, and their getting enough love, attention, nutrition, healthcare, and education. We should hold parents accountable and make that investment.
Your right to be free from a dysfunctional society, disastrous climate change, massive inequality, and a crowded and polluted world also depends on better family planning, and the cooperation between would-be parents to ensure a future filled with fewer and better-prepared people. We should make that investment.
America is not a place, a group of people, an economy, or a flag. It is the ideal that people should govern themselves. That ideal starts with capable people, and capable people start with better family planning.
Help us break the taboo that treats family planning as a personal or private matter. Let’s instead work together to guarantee that all kids have a fair start in life and create the free world we were all meant to have.
Happy Fourth of July.
Today the national child-advocacy organization Having Kids wrote to Khloé Kardashian to urge her to publicly adopt a stance on better family planning. Kardashian, who gave birth to her first child True this year, recently said she has “mixed emotions” about having more kids with Tristan Thompson after he cheated on her. According to a recent interview, even though she wants a large family, the thought of having more kids with Tristan“scares her.”
Uncertain relationships can mean family structure instability. Research suggests instability can cause a number of negative effects on children. Would it be better for True’s future if she simply focused her energy on her daughter?
As a prominent social figure, Khloé Kardashian can set a powerful example for when and if to bring more children into the world. The facts are clear:
Anne Green, Executive Director of Having Kids, said this to Kardashian: “You can make a better future for True and every other child in this world. There is no more effective way to do that than modeling better family planning.”
Having Kids sent Kardashian this message: We urge you to consider embracing the Fair Start family planning model, hold off on having more kids until you are ready, and then adopt one of the many children in need.
Having Kids is a 501(c)3 nonprofit nonprofit organization dedicated to reforming family planning by replacing parent-centered family planning models with the human rights-based and child-first Fair Start model.
Last month we asked the Guardian to correct a confusing story that said changing one’s diet is the most effective way to reduce one’s impact on Earth, and mitigate climate change. As we explained, and the Guardian previously reported, that is not true. Ensuring smaller families is the most effective action – so much so, that in one recent report the impact of having one child less could not even be easily graphed against other actions. It’s not the first time the Guardian has elided family planning when discussing climate change.
Most discussions of family planning and the environment – the Guardian included – involve narratives of the most compassionate and thoughtful people one can imagine forgoing having kids entirely. But is that what we really want? Would discussions of the need for better family planning policies, for all, make more sense?
Ignoring a culture of family planning that treats each family as if it were an isolated unit condemns future generations to a luck-of-the-draw birth lottery that ensure poor kids stay poor, and rich kids stay rich. Journalists have a responsibility to put issues in context. In that sense, they should start at the source, and bring attention to idea of focusing our family planning on collectively ensuring a fair start in life for every child.
It’s time for the Guardian to connect the dots, and see the linkages between the issues it reports on – from needy kids, to water shortages, to the cycle of child abuse and neglect, to maternal deaths worldwide – and the need for better family planning.
We can all do better. Our future depends on it.
Urge the Editor of the Guardian Katharine Viner to reconsider the paper’s approach to family planning by tweeting her @KathViner or by sending her a brief letter guardian.letters@theguardian.com.
Today Having Kids offered the official behind Trump’s child separation policy $25K in exchange for his undergoing a vasectomy. Why? To send a message that caring for children starts with better family planning, and that some folks are just not ready to have kids.
The Trump administration has been under fire for its policy of separating children from parents who are entering the country. The media has revealed that senior policy advisor to Trump, Stephen Miller, is the architect behind this egregious policy. Beyond being morally reprehensible, this policy has been described by some as “state-sponsored child abuse.” Indeed, the psychological trauma of a child being ripped from his or her parents, even for a short amount of time, is shown to be devastating. Anyone who not only implements such a horrific policy – not to mention, allegedly delights in watching children separated from parents – is not prepared to parent.
Having Kids is making the following offer to Stephen Miller:
Having Kids, Inc. will pay you, Stephen Miller, $25,000 on the conditions that you 1) undergo a successful vasectomy procedure within the next two months, as well as 2) publicly announce that you have donated an amount of your choice to a charity of your choice for the purpose helping the hundreds of thousands of children who are victims of child abuse each year in the United States.
Anne Green, Executive Director of Having Kids, had this to say. “Someone who has demonstrated total disregard for the welfare of so many children is not prepared to parent.” “Caring about kids starts with better family planning. Everything else is after-the-fact. That’s the conversation we all need to be having.”
Having Kids is a 501(c)3 nonprofit nonprofit organization dedicated to reforming family planning by replacing parent-centered family planning models with the human rights-based and child-first Fair Start model.
Wrestling sensation John Cena has been grabbing headlines recently with his roller-coaster relationship with Nikki Bella. After their massive break-up in April over whether to have kids, John changed his mind and has said he would reverse his vasectomy for Bella.
John said this: “So it literally it is just about being a mom?” he says. “Okay. Because I can’t have you out of my life, ever. I want to marry you. And relationships and marriage, especially, is about sacrifice. And I will make that sacrifice for you. I will give you a child.”
Today Having Kids sent John a message:
John – as a role model people need you to set a good example when it comes to family planning. Having kids should not be a sacrifice. Children deserve to be wanted one hundred percent before they are brought into the world. We urge you to hold off until you are ready, and then adopt, or choose a smaller and sustainable family that will be a model for others.
Family planning defines the world around us, and celebrities can influence how other people plan their families. Wrestling fans around the world look to Cena as a role model. John should plan his family around the future we all want – a safe and sustainable word filled with people raised in thoughtful and loving families.
We need celebrities to stand up and do the right thing. Children are not pawns or bargaining chips. They deserve better.
Today Having Kids called on the United Nation High Commissioner for Human Rights to prioritize every child’s right to a fair start in life in response to President Trump’s child separation scandal. While decrying President Trump’s policy, the group called his disregard for children and their right to healthy development part of a much larger problem.
Trump’s policy is only one example of how we ignore the right of every child to a fair start in life.
Anne Green, Executive Director of Having Kids, said this: “Now is the time for the Human Rights Council to take a bold step towards creating a better world for future children.” “Now is the time to prioritize the needs of future children and promote the universal value of smaller, more sustainable, and truly equitable families.”
Take action: Tweet UN HRC High Commissioner, at @UNHumanRights, and politely suggest he act on our request.