Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Bad Habit Of Bearing Children, H Theixos, S.B. Jamil

H Theixos

Procreation – the act of having and raising biological children – is generally not a life choice that is subject to moral scrutiny; there is a standing assumption that parents act morally when they bring or intend to bring new life into existence with the intent of fostering and nurturing the future child(ren). We argue that this assumption is not morally justifiable under present societal conditions, and basic tenets of moral decency obligate prospective parents, under certain defeasibility conditions, to prioritize adoption over procreation. We conclude that for the subset of prospective parents who are unaffected by the defeasibility conditions, …