At the intersection of climate justice and reproductive justice

Abstract

Climate justice and reproductive justice are distinct scholarly and activist frameworks that have received significant attention in recent years—particularly with respect to how they might be linked together. In this overview, I survey the main lenses through which various actors have linked climate justice and reproductive justice in the United States. First, I review the literatures: on climate justice, the perspective that those who are least responsible for the conditions causing climate change are disproportionately impacted by it; and on the reproductive justice, which focuses on rejecting reproductive oppression to achieve comprehensive reproductive autonomy for individuals and communities. Next, I analyze frameworks that seek to reframe reproductive justice through a populationist, climate-centered lens. I contrast these framings with new approaches focused on racial health disparities and intergenerational justice. The article ends with questions about the next directions in climate justice and reproductive justice linkages: in particular, the role of eco-anxiety in shaping reproductive futures. In so doing, I argue for approaches that challenge mainstream framings focused on population size and growth, and instead foreground the embodied reproductive outcomes of climate-impacted communities. This article is categorized under: Climate, Nature, and Ethics > Ethics and Climate Change Climate, Nature, and Ethics > Climate Change and Human Rights Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change > Values-Based Approach to Vulnerability and Adaptation.