Shelby Talcott on September 4, 2019
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said he supports abortion, in part, as a way to curb human population in light of climate change.
A member of the audience asked the Vermont senator about human population growth during CNN’s climate town hall Wednesday. She specifically asked Sanders whether he would support measures to curb that growth.
The audience member added that “the planet cannot sustain this growth” and “empowering women and educating everyone” on curbing the population seems “reasonable.” Sanders said he supports women being able to “control their own bodies” and have abortions when answering the climate change question.
“The answer is yes and the answer has everything to do with the fact that women, in the United States of America, by the way, have a right to control their own bodies and make reproductive decisions,” Sanders said.
Sanders specifically voiced support for U.S.-taxpayer funded abortions, bringing up the Mexico City agreement, the Washington Examiner reported.
“And the Mexico City agreement, which denies American aid to those organizations around the world that allow women to have abortions or even get involved in birth control, to me is totally absurd,” he added.
“So I think especially in poor countries around the world, where women do not necessarily want to have large numbers of babies and where they can have the opportunity through birth control to control the number of kids they have: something I very, very strongly support.”
All of the major Democratic candidates have expressed support for abortion rights, but none have tied abortion to climate change or discussed it as a means of population control.
