<<I agree that there are many people who shouldn't have children, but I can't see any ethically
acceptable way to prevent them from having children. The only remedy would be to persuade them to
think about it, and there are few things more difficult than persuading people to think.>>
There is no reason to think that thinking, even if people could be persuaded to do that, would yield the result you want.
It is not always contrary to self-interest to produce children you can't support or raise as you or I think proper. It can be a perfectly rational choice, even if made without conscious thought.
One example among many: How many of the very poor have Keogh plans or IRA's or pensions? What percentage of their children are likely to volunteer to take care of them in their old age, or be able to? Ten percent? That makes having ten children a sort of Keogh plan....
Throw in welfare that escalates with each child. Throw in prospective parents who see themselves as having no role to play in, or value to, society. Well, being a mother or father is a role. It is a romanticized one, even. Almost sacred! And your little child loves you, adores you, even if you burn it with cigarettes or only see it when you pass it in the street.
So if you are nothing, feel like nothing... make babies. Then you're... something.
|
