‘Captain Planet’: The childhood ‘hero’ that promoted population control and pro-abortion ideology

In Part 1 of our series about “Captain Planet,” we discussed how the popular children’s cartoon was created not only to teach viewers about the importance of protecting the earth, but to promote a much more sinister agenda. While “Captain Planet and the Planeteers” cartoon is no longer airing, that doesn’t mean it has lost its influence; Hollywood isn’t quite finished with the idea, or with the pro-abortion agenda they’re trying to instill into children through a veneer of environmentalism.

Environmentalist and filmmaker Barbara Pyle, co-creator of “Captain Planet” with population control enthusiasts and media mogul Ted Turner, also co-founded one of the first legal abortion businesses in the U.S. alongside abortionist Horace Hale Harvey III, who recently died. Harvey served as the facility’s medical director, while Pyle was its administrator.

“Captain Planet and the Planeteers” was designed to reach as many people as possible, with the Planeteers characters as multicultural as possible, so viewers could recognize themselves in the show (to be more easily indoctrinated). And the messages on the show weren’t just about the importance of preventing pollution or recycling. Several episodes spread the myth of overpopulation, while specifically urging children to keep their future families small.

The truth about overpopulation

Environmentalists have been warning about the necessity of population control for decades, but the issue of overpopulation destroying the earth is a myth. In actuality, falling birth rates is the big problem, which is leading to underpopulation.

Numerous countries are facing population collapse, and as people overall have fewer and fewer children, the repercussions have been staggering.

The Pro Life Reply to: "Abortion Will Stop Overpopulation"

WARNING: Disturbing image below.

The worst consequences can be seen in China, where — as mentioned approvingly in Captain Planet — the government had a coercive One Child Policy, created with the help of the United Nations Population Fund and the International Planned Parenthood Fund, in place for decades. Though it has in recent years been rescinded and the government is now urgently trying to persuade citizens to have more children, the consequences of forced population control linger.

Under the former policy, families who had more than one child were punished; some were merely fined, while in other cases, consequences were much worse; at times, visibly pregnant women were literally dragged off the streets, their children forcibly aborted.

This is what “Captain Planet” was blindly promoting:

A cultural preference for sons quickly led to a severe gender imbalance resulting in millions of missing girls, as sex-selective abortions were committed if couples learned they were pregnant with girls instead of boys. This, then, led to an epidemic of human trafficking and the highest suicide rate among women in the world.

The reality of overpopulation is this: it’s a myth.

The Population Research Institute issued a report about the United Nations Population Division estimates, which found that the world’s population will peak in the near future and then begin decreasing, as the overall total fertility rate is drastically falling around the world. Fewer people are being born, causing the global population to age, which will cause the population of the planet to decrease as deaths outpace births. The World Bank’s fertility data shows that the overwhelming majority of countries have much lower fertility rates than they did in 1960.

Countries around the world are experiencing a “baby bust,” which occurs when there are not enough children born to replace elderly and dying populations. Desperate governments, like Denmark, Italy, Germany, Hungary and Norway, are frantically instituting legislation to give parents incentives to have more children. With fertility rates far below replacement levels, there will not be enough workers to support the elderly population as they retire.

The United States is having similar problems; the fertility rate is at its lowest in 30 years.

The resurgence of Captain Planet

The “Captain Planet” cartoon officially went off the air in 1992, with a sequel series continuing through 1996. Yet that doesn’t mean it has been forgotten. Hollywood has been working to resurrect it for years.

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio has been attached to the development of a “Captain Planet” movie for almost 10 years as a producer, with up-and-coming actor Glen Powell signed on to co-write and star in the film. Though the movie hasn’t made much progress in recent years, Powell spoke about it less than six months ago:

I’m very, very passionate about ‘Captain Planet.’ I want that one to get made. And I feel like we have a very, very strong way into that world and something that I think the world wants to see, but the people that own that property have other ideas and other plans, and that’s fine. Look, I’ll just keep making movies and keep doing what I’m going to do, and eventually, we’ll see if that ever comes back around. But at the end of the day, it’s out of your control.

DiCaprio’s attachment to “Captain Planet” is not surprising; he’s an outspoken environmentalist who has starred in several environmentalism-themed movies. But he’s also spoken out in support of abortion, most notably in 2022 after the fall of Roe v. Wade, when he posted on social media urging followers to take action to protect abortion.

“Today’s United States Supreme Court decision to overturn [Roe v. Wade] takes away a woman’s right to an abortion,” DiCaprio wrote. “Roughly 33 million women are set to lose access to the procedure in their home states. Our voice and action is needed now more than ever. Please scroll for more information, resources and organizations to support.”

How abortion is connected to overpopulation

Abortion activists have jumped eagerly onto the overpopulation bandwagon as a means of promoting abortion, typically in developing countries with higher fertility rates. These wealthy, western leaders are frequently throwing money at African nations in the hopes of keeping residents from having “too many” children.

Prince William, for example, complained in 2021 about the human population in Africa being too large. “The increasing pressure on Africa’s wildlife and wild spaces as a result of human population presents a huge challenge for conservationists, as it does the world over,” he claimed, adding, “Africa’s extraordinarily rich biodiversity has the ability to sequester vast amounts of carbon. But this is only possible if these landscapes remain truly intact and are protected as functioning ecosystems.”

Melinda French Gates, the ex-wife of billionaire Bill Gates, has devoted hundreds of millions of dollars promoting abortion and contraception in Latin America, Africa, and Asia — seemingly much less concerned about preventing births in Europe, Canada, and the United States.

The BILLIONAIRES behind ABORTION

European politicians have likewise openly said that the “too-high” birth rate in Africa threatens Europe. “If the population growth in Africa continues as now, the African population will double from 1.2 billion people to 2.5 billion people by 2050,” said Danish politician Ulla Tornaes, arguing that reducing Africa’s population growth is a foreign policy and security priority for the Danish government. “Part of the solution to reducing migratory pressures on Europe is to reduce the very high population growth in many African countries.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, European nations promised to send medical aid to African nations, yet instead of sending ventilators and PPE, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) sent $2 million worth of abortion kits. Other nations, like Canada, used millions of dollars worth of COVID-19 funding to promote abortion in Africa.

All of this pro-abortion advocacy is done in the name of preventing overpopulation, and stopping countries with “too many” children — as warned about in “Captain Planet!” — from continuing to have high fertility rates.

If “Captain Planet” is, indeed, resurrected by Hollywood, it seems certain that the ideas of overpopulation and abortion will be included. Pro-life parents might have warm memories of the eco-friendly superhero, but should be on guard before allowing their children to be indoctrinated the way children were in the 1990s.