Fair Start Movement

Category: News & Fair Start Headlines

  • The Hill Covers the Need for Better Family Planning

    The Hill Covers the Need for Better Family Planning

    Can we expand our thinking, and link the chaos of today’s world with some common source, something to which we can direct our attention and alter to truly make the world and future a better place? Yes we can.

    Trump’s separation of families at the border is merely one example. The Hill, a key political media outlet, recently covered Having Kids’ call for better family planning. Read the full article here. 

    Have ideas of your own for linking events in the world today to the need for better family planning? Get in touch with us at Info@HavingKids.org

  • A Video Message for World Population Day 2018

    A Video Message for World Population Day 2018

    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.

    Take Action for World Population Day 2018

    Tell UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to recommend smaller families for all. Sign the petition.

  • Push Back On Lobbyists Driving Climate Change and Hurting Our Kids

    Push Back On Lobbyists Driving Climate Change and Hurting Our Kids

    A federal judge recently dismissed a very modest lawsuit to recoup the government’s costs – the ones you pay as a taxpayer – for having to deal with the impacts of climate change. Jay Timmons, the manufacturing trade association lead is one of the lobbyists who opposed the lawsuit as “baseless.”

    Don’t you have an overriding and God-given right to a safe, healthy and natural environment? Isn’t that the very least a government has to assure in order to remain legitimate? How bad does it have to get before we realize the government has failed to protect us and our kids?

    The problem with climate change is that it seems amorphous and overwhelming, so much so that we have a cognitive bias against taking corrective action. The way around that is to understand that climate change is not just randomly happening. It is being exacerbated by very specific people who are enriching themselves, profiting from harming the environment in which we and our children live. Jay Timmons is one of those persons.

    This is not complex. He and his kind are harming the environment in which we live, and threatening our children. Justice means holding him, and others like him, accountable for the harm they have done and the suffering they will cause.

    Take action: Tweet him @JayTimmonsNAM and let him know how you feel. It’s up to us to protect the future. This is the challenge of our age – and we will rise to it.

  • Freedom Starts With Cooperative Family Planning

    Freedom Starts With Cooperative Family Planning

    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.

     

  • HAVING KIDS ASKS KHLOÉ KARDASHIAN TO CHOOSE BETTER FAMILY PLANNING MODEL

    HAVING KIDS ASKS KHLOÉ KARDASHIAN TO CHOOSE BETTER FAMILY PLANNING MODEL

    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.

  • Having Kids Offers Trump’s Child Separation Policy Architect Stephen Miller K For a Vasectomy

    Having Kids Offers Trump’s Child Separation Policy Architect Stephen Miller $25K For a Vasectomy

    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.

     

  • John Cena, Don’t Have Kids You Don’t Want

    John Cena, Don’t Have Kids You Don’t Want

    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.

  • Children First: Demand An End To Family Border Separations

    Children First: Demand An End To Family Border Separations

    A nationwide backlash to Trump’s policy of separating kids from their parents at the border, as a tactic to decrease illegal immigration is underway.

    It’s easy to get trapped in the specifics of the debate over immigration law and policy, but is there a larger issue at play – the well being of children and the consequences of child trauma. When we determine immigration policy, we must consider it from a broader, and longer-term, perspective. The Trump separation policy is more evidence of a dangerously shortsighted view of the world. Whether it’s

    the Trump administration shows a dangerous proclivity for short-term thinking. That’s evident in Trump’s child separation policy too, given the long term impacts on the children and the potential for trauma to be continued for generations.

    Humans have historically valued strongmen leaders because they could protect us from threats, like dangerous foreign powers. But we live in a different world today. What if these less-evolved strongmen, with their short-term thinking, have themselves become the threat?  What do we do then? We put children and future generations first in all of our policy positions and decisions.

    The choices we make now will affect children for a lifetime. We must stand up against the cruel human rights violation that is currently happening on our southern border. Every American has a duty to defend the values of our country and the welfare of the children on our soil and in our care. It’s time to put children first in all of our policy decisions.

    Take action: Call your representative today and demand Congress act to end to Trump’s child separation policy.

  • Five Ways to Celebrate [Responsible] Father’s Day

    Five Ways to Celebrate [Responsible] Father’s Day

    Not all fathers should be celebrated on Father’s Day, from the many fathers that kill their own children, to “TV Personalities” like Josh Duggar who’s life and poor family planning is eerily reminiscent of characters from the movie Idiocracy.

    But there are ways to celebrate, and help make Father’s Day mean more than just another excuse to buy something. We can make it mean a better world, and not just more people.

    1) Make a donation in the name of male contraception. The Male Contraception Initiative is a non-profit that is pushing for the development of male contraception through education, advocacy and funding research. A modeling study indicated that even if only 10% of interested men took up a male contraceptive pill, there would be a 5% decrease in unintended pregnancies in the United States. Want better fathers? Encourage better family planning, and ask the environmental organizations you belong to to do the same.

    2) Know someone who has a boatload of kids, or wouldn’t be a good father? Start planning your very own “Vasectomy Party” and invite those special guests. Could Josh Duggar be on your list?

    3) Talk to your kids about the importance of family planning.  In 2011, 45% of all pregnancies – or 2.8 million pregnancies – in the United States were unplanned. Though this figure represents an all-time low in unplanned pregnancies, there is still a lot of work to be done. There are loads of resources available about how to have these conversations with kids of all ages.

    4) Ask for family planning help if you need it  Responsible parents make sure they care for their child’s physical, emotional and educational needs. They put the needs of their child before their own feelings of pride and shame and ask for help to ensure their child is cared for. There are resources in every state to help families with financial or logistical needs.

    5) Offer help if you can give it. The best parents are those that teach their own children compassion for others and that everyone deserves a fair start in life.  If you are fortunate enough to have the resources, give to one of the many organizations that support low-income families with basic needs, kids in foster care, and equal educational opportunities for all kids. Mentor kids in need. And encourage the United Nations to take family planning seriously, and change from its outdated parent-focused modeling to the forward-looking and child-first Fair Start model.