As the United Nations enters the second week of its virtual 2020 High Level Political Forum (HLPF), the need to address climate change continues to be among the most highlighted themes. Ambassadors and representatives of nations and major groups encouraged governments worldwide to make climate change a priority in sustainable development efforts to “build back better” (this year’s HLPF slogan- from the devastation of COVID-19). 

Care for the environment aligns naturally with the pro-life movement. As Pope Francis says in his encyclical Laudato Si, “When we fail to acknowledge as part of reality the worth of a poor person, a human embryo, a person with disabilities…it becomes difficult to hear the cry of nature itself.” Poverty and abortion are part of the same vicious cycle. Climate change disproportionately impacts poor communities around the world whose livelihoods depend directly on the environment. Therefore, caring for creation is inherent in our mission to preserve human life and dignity.

Given this natural connection, it might seem strange that in the public forum, pro-life policy holders tend to resist proposed programs aimed at responding to the climate crisis. They are fiercely derided in mainstream media and called hypocrites by climate change advocates. The media often claims that true pro-life people would focus on fighting climate change instead of abortion. Yet, the real discrepancy is found not with the pro-life movement, but rather, with the activists who insist on including abortion in climate reform measures.

First of all, legal abortion is the most direct attack on innocent life. Therefore, it is absurd to propose abandoning the fight on this front. Dealing with climate change is an essential complement to this battle, but not an acceptable replacement. Unfortunately, pro-climate legislature and resolutions often contain tacit support for abortion as a means of population control, linked to Malthusian fears. For example, the Paris Climate Agreement, praised by numerous states at the HLPF, uses language that the UN uses to promote an international right to abortion. This was one reason why the U.S. withdrew from this agreement in 2018 and received heavy criticism. 

Ultimately, pro-life principles may be totally in accord with efforts to reduce carbon emissions and slow the effects of global warming, but the fact remains that abortion is the world’s preeminent threat to human life and dignity. While this does not mean in any way that there are no other threats (i.e. climate change), it does mean that ending abortion takes priority. The best way for green leaders to gain pro-life support is to stop manufacturing trade-offs that force us to choose.