15 hours ago, UnacceptedRealist said:

I'm not really sure how to phrase this question most appropriately; I've had a number of well-intentioned discussions with people IRL about it and they usually get offended/defensive pretty quick (I've actually been asked to leave a church-based counseling session). So, to be clear, I don't mean to offend anyone; I'm just genuinely curious:Why is parenthood considered such aninalienable right?

In other words, why is it considered so unreasonable to question the fitness of potential parents based on, IMO, very reasonable criteria? For example:

1. Wealth. If you're not stable financially, why would you consider parenthood? I'mnot saying that all parents need to be millionaires, but I think it's reasonable -- especially now -- to want to be able to putyour child(ren) through college (in addition to all their other needs, of course). I'd never want to be responsible for teaching a child what it means to be poor.

2. Genetics. Ifyou have anundesirable trait (such as severe acne or obesity)why would you want to risk passing it on (even if it's as indirect as encouraging acertain lifestyle)?To be honest, knowingthe turmoil I've personally gone through, it almost seems evil to risk putting someone else through it -- even if it's like a 3% chance.

3. Religion. Shouldn't anyone who believesin the notion of hell onlybecome a parent through adoption? I mean, how could you risk damning someone to an "eternity" of torture? Evenif it's a minuscule chance, it just seems so careless.

Most people don't take my questions seriously because, upon seeing my skin, they assume that I'm either depressed or jealous of "normal" people. I don't think I'm either, though.I think I just care about the well-being of people more than I care about my personal desires.

Thoughts?

Well it would be nice if we could stop all the idiots and abusive people out there fromhaving children butI don't see how you can ??

Personally i don't want to have children because i wouldn't want to pass on my horrible acne genes. It would be awful seeing my child go through what i've suffered.

But then even people with "good" genes could stillhave a child that has amedical condition, deformity, illness etc. Theres no guarentees.

The world is worryingly overpopulated. People should think more carefully about whether they really want or can support children finacially. But unfortunately many dont think that way - or they are in countries where there is no education oraccess to birth control.

19 hours ago, Geekgirl13 said:

Well it would be nice if we could stop all the idiots and abusive people out there fromhaving children butI don't see how you can ??

Personally i don't want to have children because i wouldn't want to pass on my horrible acne genes. It would be awful seeing my child go through what i've suffered.

But then even people with "good" genes could stillhave a child that has amedical condition, deformity, illness etc. Theres no guarentees.

The world is worryingly overpopulated. People should think more carefully about whether they really want or can support children finacially. But unfortunately many dont think that way - or they are in countries where there is no education oraccess to birth control.

On 11/23/2015 1046, UnacceptedRealist said:

I'm not really sure how to phrase this question most appropriately; I've had a number of well-intentioned discussions with people IRL about it and they usually get offended/defensive pretty quick (I've actually been asked to leave a church-based counseling session). So, to be clear, I don't mean to offend anyone; I'm just genuinely curious:Why is parenthood considered such aninalienable right?

In other words, why is it considered so unreasonable to question the fitness of potential parents based on, IMO, very reasonable criteria? For example:

1. Wealth. If you're not stable financially, why would you consider parenthood? I'mnot saying that all parents need to be millionaires, but I think it's reasonable -- especially now -- to want to be able to putyour child(ren) through college (in addition to all their other needs, of course). I'd never want to be responsible for teaching a child what it means to be poor.

2. Genetics. Ifyou have anundesirable trait (such as severe acne or obesity)why would you want to risk passing it on (even if it's as indirect as encouraging acertain lifestyle)?To be honest, knowingthe turmoil I've personally gone through, it almost seems evil to risk putting someone else through it -- even if it's like a 3% chance.

3. Religion. Shouldn't anyone who believesin the notion of hell onlybecome a parent through adoption? I mean, how could you risk damning someone to an "eternity" of torture? Evenif it's a minuscule chance, it just seems so careless.

Most people don't take my questions seriously because, upon seeing my skin, they assume that I'm either depressed or jealous of "normal" people. I don't think I'm either, though.I think I just care about the well-being of people more than I care about my personal desires.

Thoughts?

I completely know what youmean and understand where this is stemming from.

The other day, I had this exact same conversation with my boyfriend about the ineligibility of some people to produce an offspring based on irresponsibility. We had seen a mother pushing a stroller while crossing the street on a green light, basically playing tag with the cars. I mean, if you have no patience to wait for the freaking stop light, you really have no patience for children.

Personally, I would never have kids and would probably prefer adoption if the yearning for a child strikes me in the future (though I doubt it - I'd rather be the cool aunt). Aside from the fact that I've never considered myself emotionally stable enough for a child, I also feel that it is evil to pass my acne, which had given me numerous emotional suffering, to a child. Furthermore, I agree with geekgirl's stance - the world is already overpopulated as it is. We don't need to add on to that.