Climate movement must prioritize reproductive rights as SCOTUS looks to reverse Roe v. Wade, expert says

The leaked draft of the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade should sound an alarm for the climate movement, says A.R. Siders, core faculty with the University of Delaware’s Disaster Research Center.

“Reproductive justice is also environmental justice is also climate justice. It’s also LGBTQIA+ rights, gender equity, racial justice, food justice, immigration reform, and so on,” Siders said. “Because fighting climate change isn’t just about stopping greenhouse gas emissions. It is about changing entrenched systems and ways of doing business.  It is about changing the way policy and economic decisions are made. It is about centering people rather than profit, about recognizing and caring about how our actions affect others, and about building futures that are better than today.”

Siders, an assistant professor of public policy and one of the leading researchers in the field of coastal retreat, said climate scientists and activists are often told to “stay in the lane” and stick to comments on climate change – but that is a way of silencing the climate work.

“The real work is about building coalitions and caring about people. Feminists should care about climate change. Climate scientists should care about abortion rights. The leaked SCOTUS opinion is dangerous for far more than rights to abortion – as if that isn’t enough on its own – and fighting it should be part of the work of every climate activist.”