Childbirth

In a world of great tragedy and overwhelming need, where millions if not billions of children are inadequately cared for, the most irresponsible and narcissistic thing you can do is bring yet another life into the world.

Now, I am a product of childbirth myself, so I have some sympathy for those who do it. I recognize that children who have already come out of the womb can't be put back in, but if the choice is yours and has not yet been made, the only moral option is to not produce children at all.

It is noble to care for children who are already here but not to create a whole new obligation where none previously existed. It seems the ultimate exercise in vanity, like ordering a luxury full-course meal when all the people around you are starving. It is an insult to the under-served children in your own neighborhood, never mind the millions in needier parts of the world.

Childbirth is also extraordinarily risky, far more so than anything else you can do, like skydiving or driving drunk. The chance that something will go wrong between conception and adulthood is statistically huge. There are genetic defects, birth complications, childhood illnesses, etc. Add it all up and there is a substantial risk that you will be burdened for life with a child who is not fully functional. This is an obligation that would never had existed had you not made the choice to have a child, so it is your responsibility.

You could also raise an Einstein, but the chances of this are statistically low, even if you perceive yourself as being genetically superior. The most likely outcome is that your kid will be, well, ordinary, not disabled but not excelling in any particular way. In other words, you're going to devote a major portion of your own resources—20 years or more—raising one new child, at the expense of all the others already here, and the results will just be one new number added to the already bloated world population.

I don't mean to diminish the role of parents who are now caring for children who are already here (be it by birth, adoption or informal means). Parenting is a noble and necessary duty. But if you created the obligation yourself, there is a certain sense that you are filling in a ditch that you yourself dug. There is no net improvement to the world.

Do you have a "right" to procreate. No! You don't have the right to do anything in this world without considering its real effects and risks. If the human population were dying out or you truly believed that your genes were superior to everyone else's, childbirth could be seen as a service to mankind. Otherwise, it's just a vanity, an invented need. It is something you are doing selfishly because you've hit a wall and have no other direction.

You may think raising "just one little baby" will be no problem at all, but it's going to take almost every discretionary resource you have. There will be very little left to pursue your own goals or for good works elsewhere.