Climate Change Is a Reproductive Health Issue
As the climate crisis deepens, its impact on our physical environment is becoming increasingly clear. Rising sea levels, extreme temperatures, wildfires, and polluted air are all visible signs. What’s less apparent, but equally urgent, is the toll it takes on our bodies, especially the reproductive systems of people who can get pregnant.
Recent scientific findings are drawing direct connections between environmental degradation and reproductive health outcomes. From fertility and maternal health risks to increased sexual violence and generational trauma, climate change is not just an environmental concern. It is a reproductive justice issue.
🧫 Plastics, Fertility, and the Toxic Burden on Bodies
For the first time, researchers have detected microplastics in human ovarian follicular fluid, the substance that surrounds and nourishes eggs before ovulation. The study, published in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, raises unsettling questions about what this means for fertility, hormone health, and the broader impact of toxic exposures. These tiny plastic particles aren’t just floating in oceans or clogging landfills, they’re showing up in the most intimate spaces of our bodies.
And they didn’t end up there by accident. Microplastics are the fallout of a throwaway culture. They break down from single-use plastics, synthetic fibers, packaging waste, and petrochemical-heavy products. Many of these items, like fast fashion, makeup packaging, and period products, are aggressively marketed to women and disproportionately used by them.
Plastics have quietly embedded themselves into every corner of modern life. Now, they’re entwined with our reproductive health too. We’re not just surrounded by plastic, we’re absorbing it.
🌡 Heat, Pollution, and Pregnancy Outcomes
Wildfire smoke, air pollution, and extreme heat aren’t just uncomfortable, they’re dangerous, especially for pregnant people and infants. A growing body of research links exposure to these environmental stressors with increased risks of preterm birth, low birth weight, and stillbirth. According to an article by Mendola and Ha in Fertility and Sterility, the health impacts of climate-related events can build over a lifetime and potentially create a cycle of harm that spans generations.
This isn’t a distant or abstract concern. Pregnant individuals exposed to wildfire smoke, from recent blazes in California, Canada, and Australia, face heightened risks of complications. In many low-income and marginalized communities, access to safe shelter and clean air remains limited.
🏚 Displacement, Migration, and Gender-Based Violence
Climate-related disasters are already forcing people to leave their homes around the world, including within the United States. In the aftermath of hurricanes, floods, and fires, women and girls are especially vulnerable to gender-based violence. Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, nearly a third of reported cases of sexual violence occurred in evacuation shelters. Forced migration also increases the risk of trafficking, exploitation, and reproductive harm due to limited access to healthcare.
As extreme weather events grow more frequent, these threats are expected to worsen.
🔥 Heat and Rising Rates of Sexual Violence
Another lesser-known consequence of climate change is the link between rising temperatures and increased rates of sexual violence. Research indicates that hotter weather is associated with higher levels of aggression and domestic violence. Heat can intensify physical discomfort, and when combined with financial and emotional stress caused by climate instability, the result can be a rise in violence within homes and communities.
This pattern has already been observed in heatwaves and disaster-stricken areas worldwide.
🔍 Why It Matters for Femtech, Policy, and the Future
If we’re serious about reproductive health, we can’t ignore climate change.
Femtech innovators, healthcare providers, and policymakers need to confront the environmental factors contributing to infertility, pregnancy complications, and long-term reproductive harm. This means supporting research, regulating harmful exposures, ensuring access to clean air and water, and protecting people displaced by climate disasters. Throwing $5,000 at people to have more babies, as the Trump administration reportedly floated, is not going to cut it.
Our bodies are not separate from our environment. They are shaped by it. When the ecosystems we rely on are damaged, so is our health and our capacity to create life.
