The Berkeley City Council made a troubling move Tuesday when it called for population control measures to protect the environment.
While the council claims it will promote “humane” measures to reach its goal, historically, government population control measures quickly devolve into horrific human rights abuses, including forced abortions and sterilizations. Environmental protections are important, but they should not threaten basic human rights.
Fox News reports the council claimed the earth is experiencing a “climate emergency” that could have a bigger impact than World War II. Its members said immediate action is necessary to “humanely stabilize population” and “reverse ecological overshoot.”
Here’s more from the report:
The resolution notes that “reversing ecological overshoot and halting the sixth mass extinction requires an effort to preserve and restore half Earth’s biodiversity in interconnected wildlife corridors and to humanely stabilize population.”
The resolution, introduced in the ultra-progressive city by councilwoman Cheryl Davila, then invokes Pope Francis’ comment that humanity is on the verge of global “suicide” and that “God’s creation” is at stake.
Davila’s resolution also calls for a global climate summit in San Francisco in September and a push to “educat[e] our citizens about the climate emergency.”
Population control measures lead to horrific human rights abuses such as forced abortions and sterilizations. Under China’s one child policy, women were forced to abort unborn babies through all nine months of pregnancy, families faced harsh penalties and discrimination for having second children, and some went into hiding to protect their children.
China recently adopted a two child policy, but human rights advocates say the abuses continue.
U.S. Congressman Chris Smith wrote about the abuses in 2017:
In October of last year the BBC released a report entitled “China’s Forbidden Babies Still An Issue” confirming that under the “Two-Child Policy,” forced abortion remains a threat for women pregnant with a third child.
BBC’s Beijing Correspondent John Sudworth interviewed the father of a family in hiding because his wife has just given birth to their third child. The father told Sudworth, “A third baby is not allowed. If we weren’t in hiding, they would have forced us to have an abortion.”
China’s Family Planning officials readily admit to Sudworth that all women of childbearing age are still required to report for up to two ultrasound examinations every year.
They freely discuss with Sudworth the massive “social compensation” fines levied on families that have a third child—up to ten times the annual average income.
They also admit that that any woman found to be pregnant with a third baby will receive “home visits” with the aim of “persuading” them to have abortions.
Said one official ominously: “If you’re reported to us, then we’ll find you and we’ll persuade you not to give birth to that baby.” Another said more bluntly, “We’ll definitely find you and persuade you to do an abortion.”
Some liberal environmentalist groups have been warning about human overpopulation for years, but many countries are reproducing at below replacement level, including most of Europe and Japan.
