Who Gets to Procreate and Parent? A Black Feminist Critique of the Pronatalist Agenda

Pronatalism is an old idea with roots in eugenics and nationalism, that is now fashionable among far-right influencers and policymakers. They talk of “moral decay” and see low birth rates as a threat to the future of humanity. In the mainstream media, pronatalism looks like father-of-14 Elon Musk blaming those who choose not to procreate for our nation’s low fertility rate and discouraging the use of contraception. This political agenda is shared by influencers like Simone and Malcolm Collins, the venture capitalist poster couple who champion the pronatalist movement, selling family expansion as a civic duty. 

But pronatalism also looks like Adriana Smith—a 30-year-old Black nurse, daughter and mother—who in February was declared brain-dead after suffering a medical emergency while nine weeks pregnant. For months, doctors at Emory University Hospital continued to keep her organs functioning to sustain her fetus. In their interpretations, Smith’s body was no longer hers. Her mother, April Newkirk, says doctors cited Georgia’s LIFE Act, a restrictive abortion law that bans most abortions after fetal cardiac activity can be detected (roughly six weeks into pregnancy), as the reason her daughter could not be allowed to rest in...