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'Should human fertility be controlled?'
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
i have to do a bio essay for my a level bio and i was wondering what people think about the control of human fertility
to name a few examples
should we be left to 'go forth and multiply'
do you think that there are too many people in the world already?
what do people think about the single child thing in china?
how can russia solve (or not solve) the fact that more pregnancies are aborted than carried to term?
should couples seeking IVF just accept the fact that they cannot have children?
has more choice of birth control i.e the contraceptive pill lead to more promiscuity?
it would be great to hear peoples opinions on this
NB: i will not be writing anyones opinions on these subjects in my essay <IMG alt="image" SRC="biggrin.gif" border="0"> <IMG alt="image" SRC="biggrin.gif" border="0"> <IMG alt="image" SRC="biggrin.gif" border="0">
to name a few examples
should we be left to 'go forth and multiply'
do you think that there are too many people in the world already?
what do people think about the single child thing in china?
how can russia solve (or not solve) the fact that more pregnancies are aborted than carried to term?
should couples seeking IVF just accept the fact that they cannot have children?
has more choice of birth control i.e the contraceptive pill lead to more promiscuity?
it would be great to hear peoples opinions on this
NB: i will not be writing anyones opinions on these subjects in my essay <IMG alt="image" SRC="biggrin.gif" border="0"> <IMG alt="image" SRC="biggrin.gif" border="0"> <IMG alt="image" SRC="biggrin.gif" border="0">
0
Comments
I think everyone has the "right" to have children but I don't think you should have them unless you can afford it. But then, if you are poor, or stupid, does that mean you shouldn't be able to have kids? I don't know... The China thing is good in theory but you hear nasty stories about women having abortions forced upon them. I think maybe Britain could implement a similar thing whereby your first 2 kids get a free education but after that, no more help. Condoms are free!
Its not such a problem over here in the west, our populations are pretty stable. We have an aging population and have no problem feeding them. Its more a problem in the developing world and I dislike the idea of the west trying to dictate how many kids the rest of the world can have even less.
The Chinese system is awful. Wuckfit talked about it over on the abortion thread. Its part of their culture to have male sons to carry on the line and work in family business. If a couple have a girl for their first child then theres a good chance they will just throw her out on the street to die, or drown it in a river. Its a sick system, modern population control carried out on a very traditional culture <IMG alt="image" SRC="frown.gif" border="0">
I think IVF is great, easy for those not involved to be sceptical (sp?) but you have to think of the eeds of the potential parents involved, this sort of treatment is only really available in areas that don't have population problems at present.
Birth control is great too <IMG alt="image" SRC="smile.gif" border="0"> shame it isn't readily available worldwide, calm down the birth rate of developing countries and hence improve their economy
Chances are it will improve so the carrying capacity of the world will increase.
However a lot of people seem to live in desert or jungle or tundra with little capacity for growth.
I think people should be able to choose how many kids they have, although there should be some regulation in certain areas. Some western countries need little regulation, whilst others like France and Germany need pro-birth measures and countries such as India and China need anti-birth measures.
But like it was said, the earth has a habit of killing off excess population in certain areas.
And Balddog is right to say that populations in the West are stable. In fact, last time I checked, the UK population was falling overall (excluding immigration).
Obviously the world cannot carry an unlimited population. If the 15 billion figure is right then we will get there pretty soon if current growth continues.
It's an unfortunate fact that there are people like those KT talks about who are irresponsible about how many children they bring into this world, and how many they can actually afford.
But we do need kids. They are our future tax payers, and thus the ones who will be paying for our pensions and TV licences in the future. We have an aging population that needs a lot of financial support and birth control is not going to help the country as a whole in the long-run.
So how do you control the population? Do you limit the number of children per couple?
What about the cultural differences such as Catholics not believing in birth control?
Worth noting, when considering the amount of food, the west can feed itself and most of the third world - we destroy enough of it rather than give it away...
I understand your point though. We are in a very tricky situation. Population is going to become an increasingly large problem over the coming years. We cant force people not to have kids, not in todays world.
Maybe financial incentives would work? Tap into the greedy attitude of todays world. Although I think China does the same, benefits cut if you break the one kid rule.
Yep..but why should we have to? When does it end? If people dont control their countries population and it keeps growing to starvation levels then should the western nations always step in to solve the problem?
Take it down to a basic level. Say your sister had 2 kids and asked you for financial and babysitting help, you probably would have a problem. What if she kept having kids and constantly expecting you to feed and clothe them? Shouldnt there be a point where you expect her to take responsibility for herself and feed her own bloody kids?
(That was what Balddog said, I still haven't worked out how to quote!)
In less developed countries people are generally less educated, don't have access to birth control like in the West, and also many have children so they will look after them in old age. So it's not exactly their *fault*.
I do know what you are saying though. Does anyone feel sorry for people who decide not to have kids but end up paying for everyone elses?
What were the Nazi policies that were excellent?
Its not their fault and they wont allow us to interfere so we are inbetween a rock and a hard place.
I just wonder when it will end. How long will we have to support the massive populations of the developing world. These countries have to learn to stand on their own two feet sooner or later. Relying on the western nations to support them is a very bad situation to be in. Theres a bit of 'Being cruel to be kind' in my feelings on this issue.
Id like to see all foreign aid cut off and all foreign debt wiped clean. Dropping 3rd world debt and letting these countries run their own affairs is what I see as being the best idea for the long term.
Well Hitler and his party managed to turn Germany from a weak, demoralised craphole during the 20s into the single most powerful ans sucessful nation on earth within 20 odd years. They had many very worthwhile domestic policies.
Just saying that some of their policies were very good..They had an anti-smoking and anti-pollution policy for example.
We get too focussed on the horrific side of the nazis and dismiss the good policies which they <STRONG>did</STRONG> have.
Both of us are open opponents of the Holocaust and the policies which supported it, but you HAVE to be openminded...
Does anyone here support everything which Labour stands for, or the Tories?
As for why should we support these countries, I can only offer the following explanation.
Because we can.
I agree that we have no problem supporting them now but what of the future? What happens if something awful happens to our economies which means we cant afford all this aid? The countries will have become so dependant on us that they will be totally screwed if we stop aid.
Id much rather see us helping these people learn to support themselves.
It's either that of dams...
If we just gave them the money to spend on food, that would be different...
This is one area where I can understand the socialist perspective - production of food for the masses, not the economy. I don;t necessarily agree with them, but I understand where they are coming from.
That said, we could do better if we taught people how to look after themselves and gave them the equipment to do it. Not a dam, some guns, and aircraft or air control system - but a tractor, a fishing rod or a hand plough. Help them farm for themselves, help them become self-sufficient.
I won't even look at world debt, where we force these countries to pay back almost twice in bank loans what we give them in aid anyway...
No, they didn't. Like every other fascist regime they strongly promoted high breeding rates, estblishing several agencies and programmes for said purpose e.g. the Women's League (headed by a mother of 11) and the Lebensborn project. Keeping the Aryan population down was definitely not a Nazi aim. The only groups whose reproduction they aimed to curtail were those they did not want anyway.
I didn't man general control...
It's not just the equipment they need though. There are plenty of charities providing equipment for these people, but without rain there aint a lot they can do with a tractor or a hoe.
It's all very well sending over some altruistic Brits to dig a well, but it doesn't really solve any of the long-term problems. If they don't get any rain for six months, then they have nothing to drink, and nothing to water their crops with. Some of the land these people live on simply will not support human life.
We have little control over the weather so digging irrigation ditches is just like trying to build a house in quick sand. Pointless.
We've cancelled most of our debts, so you can't really moan about crippling debt preventing them from improving. Corruption is the main problem now and we have little control over that: Mugabe being a case in point.