President's Note, March 2026
Written by John Seager, President and CEO | Published: March 9, 2026
Our feature article provides deep context regarding relationships between population and religion. Hope that theologically driven control of women was finally abating is undermined by a sharp rise in authoritarianism. Around the world — and increasingly in the United States — there is an alarming patriarchal reassertion of authority over women’s bodies, labor, and public participation. This is frequently justified through religious frameworks fused with ethnonationalism — providing fertile ground for authoritarian governance.
This strikes directly at conditions that allow fertility to decline sustainably: women’s autonomy, reproductive health care, education, and political voice. Diminished rights threaten demographic trajectories with higher unintended births and stalled fertility decline. This worsens maternal and child health outcomes and increases pressure on ecosystems and public resources.
Belief systems are selectively mobilized to justify social control. This includes theological domination of reproduction, demographic theology, “replacement” panic, and delegitimization of vital reproductive health services.
UN Women reports that nearly one-quarter of governments acknowledge backlash against women’s rights, citing pressure from religious or “traditional values” organizations. The World Health Organization links restrictions on reproductive health care to increases in unsafe abortion and maternal mortality.
In a growing number of economically advanced nations, conservative religious forces are rolling back reproductive rights. Under Donald Trump (who ironically has no fixed principles, religious or otherwise, other than retribution and self-aggrandizement), policies reflect sanctimonious pronouncements. Defunding of domestic and international family planning programs by the Trump administration is applauded by right-wing religious groups that define “family” and “life” according to their own theological doctrines.
The Heritage Foundation, source of the heinous Project 2025 blueprint used by the Trump administration, wants taxpayer funding of church-run “marriage boot camps,” complete with communal weddings that would turn the US into a pronatalist cult — positioning women primarily as wives and mothers in service of population growth and theologically defined social stability.
Where theocratic patriarchy impedes women’s ability to control their own fertility, overpopulation will continue to plague high-vulnerability regions. Environmental stress on water, land, and food systems will intensify. Addressing the climate crisis will become harder and more expensive. Development gains in the poorest places on earth may stall or reverse.
Authoritarians cite divine authority to control women and their reproductive lives. Cancellation of rights portends dire consequences for people and for our overcrowded planet. Battles that once seemed won must be fought anew by those of us who value science, reason, rights, and nature.