Even opponents of birth control are “going green” these days. The uber-right-wing American Life League, founded by Catholic activists in 1979, launched a “The Pill Kills” campaign in 2008, and this year shifted its message to “The Pill Kills the Environment.”
“Study after study has shown how the chemicals from the pill discharge into our waterways and wreak havoc on the fish,” says the campaign site, which is peppered with dour women in green T-shirts. (Buy your own shirt for only $6.50!)
It’s true — studies do show that the Pill has adverse effects on marine life, and that’s also worrying for those of us who drink water. It’s just one of many reasons why we need new and better birth-control options, as I’ve argued before.
But what the “Pill Kills” site doesn’t make immediately clear is that the American Life League opposes all contraception of any kind (other than the good ol’ rhythm method). If the group gave a rat’s ass about the environment, it would acknowledge that unplanned pregnancies and resultant unplanned births ultimately lead to umpteen times more environmental degradation than the Pill.
The League wants you to protest the Pill “outside of your local pharmacy, Planned Parenthood facility, doctor’s office or at a busy intersection” on June 5, to mourn the anniversary of the 1965 Supreme Court ruling that affirmed the right of married couples to use birth control.
Might I recommend that you instead celebrate the anniversary with a glass of natural white wine and an email to your members of Congress calling for more Title X family-planning funding?
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Read more about population and option of going childfree:
- The GINK manifesto: Say it loud: I’m childfree and I’m proud
- Childfree messages in Sex and the City 2 and Eat, Pray, Love
- Pundits criticize Elena Kagan for being childfree
- How green are the ‘childless by choice’?
- Women’s rights are the right way to approach the population issue
- Nearly a fifth of American women skip childbearing
- Want to join the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement?
- And still more about population
