Fair Start Movement

Category: Family Planning & Child Rights

  • Having Kids Hits the Ground at the UN

    Having Kids Hits the Ground at the UN

    Wednesday was World Population Day, and this year’s theme was “Family Planning Is A Human Right.” Predictably, the UN has focused on access to contraception. But aren’t there bigger issues to address than that? Today we are willingly harming others, future generations and the nonhuman world, if our family planning work does not also include a discussion of family size. We know that planning smaller families is the best way to mitigate climate impact and improve outcomes for all kids.

    Sadly the media largely ignored World Population Day, and failed to connect family planning to the issues they cover every day. So we cut out the middle man, and hit the pavement to take our request for better family planning straight to people at the UN.

    Here are our people, spreading the word on the need to focus on smaller families, and why that benefits everyone, as well as the planet.

    A woman in a light dress and sandals points at a man in a suit and lanyard as he approaches on a city sidewalk near bike racks and traffic, with modern buildings in the background.   Three people stand on a city sidewalk in daylight; one woman hands a flyer to another woman, while a man looks on. Trees, buildings, and a crosswalk are visible in the background.

    “It was so comforting to see that a great deal of UN employees and interns were behind a cause that I was previously worried that only a few were concerned about,” explained Having Kids street team member, Andie Youniss.

    Whether you are worried about the future of our planet, rising inequality, world hunger, conflicts, or all of the above, you can speak out. We will be planning more events soon. Email info@fairstartmovement.org if you are interested in organizing an outreach event in your community!

    A woman in a beige dress stands on a city sidewalk, holding papers. Behind her are vehicles, flagpoles with international flags, and a tall glass building under a clear blue sky. UN World Population Day

    Urge the UN Secretary General to recommend smaller families across the world. 

    Add your name here.

     

  • TAKE ACTION AGAINST TRUMP’S ATTACK ON WOMEN AND CHILDREN

    TAKE ACTION AGAINST TRUMP’S ATTACK ON WOMEN AND CHILDREN

    The Trump administration is trying to amend our family planning policies in ways that hurt women and children, including imposition of a domestic “gag rule.” They are proposing changes to Title X – the only federal program dedicated to increasing access to contraceptive care for low-income women. It would take away funding to providers who simply mention abortion as an option.

    The Title X changes are an obvious effort to defund Planned Parenthood, who is the only healthcare service for many. The proposed rules are intended to mislead women about their health care options and would encourage the use of ineffective birth control methods. Women deserve facts. The proposed Title X changes will affect people for their entire lives.

    TAKE ACTION – Comments are due 07/31/2018 at 11:59 PM EDT.

    Draft key points are below – feel free to copy, modify and/or otherwise use: 

    • This radical proposal has never been implemented in the United States and it would jeopardize the trusting relationship between women and their providers and put the health of the 4 million women nationwide who use Title X clinics at risk.
    • The proposed rule could increase the rate of unintended pregnancy by eliminating the requirement that Title X clinics provide access to the full range of FDA-approved contraceptive methods,
    • Methods encouraged in this rule such as “natural family planning” and “fertility awareness-based” methods are significantly less effective with typical use than long-acting methods, leading to a higher number of unintended pregnancies.
    • Reducing unintended pregnancy helps families get off to the best possible start. It empowers women to attain their education goals, helping create financially secure and strong families, lowers the abortion rate and reduces the number of people who need to use Medicaid and other public assistance programs.

     

     

     

  • 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.

  • World Population Day: Having Kids Calls for Day of Action at the United Nations

    World Population Day: Having Kids Calls for Day of Action at the United Nations

    Read the press release here. 

    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.”

    TAKE ACTION NOW

    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.

  • 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.

  • Bucking Tradition: Why One Family Chose To Stop At Two

    Bucking Tradition: Why One Family Chose To Stop At Two

    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.

  • 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.