As a Chinese adoptee whose life was determined by one policy that violated the reproductive rights of women, I now make parallels to the ethical questions I have to consider as a young woman and a climate educator. My birth mother was forced to give me up because of the One Child Policy and the preference of males in the family over females. For me, this created a loss of culture, loss of family, and loss of identity. But for my birth mother, this created a sacrifice that I can only think of as a radical act of love.

I am an almost 21 year old non-binary person from the UK. Ever since I was a child I have always known that I wanted to be a parent. In my ideal world, I would have children in about eight to ten years’ time. I desperately want to be a parent and feel a strong urge to care for and raise children but the world seems so hostile towards them and I can’t imagine a future where they would be safe

For most of my life, I have felt fairly ambivalent about having children. However, now that I am 30 and married, I have gradually begun to feel the pull of having children. My friends are starting to have kids or talk about wanting kids soon. And it’s just hard to imagine not having kids when that experience seems to be such a big and important part of life. Entering this stage of life has brought increased doubt, uncertainty, confusion, and sadness around my reproductive choices.

I want to have a baby.  I can imagine that baby growing into a toddler, a child, a teenager, and finally an adult.  I think about the names I might choose for my son or daughter, the books and stories I would share with him or her, and the things we would do together.