A radio station had a call-in the other morning, asking whether people thought that you should have a license to have a child.

Surprisingly, the majority of the callers said YES.

Deep inside, I do feel that if you need a license to drive a car, to own a dog, to practice medicine, then you should need one to bring a child into this world.

Yeah, I know that it violates the very essence of basic human rights and our democratic ideals...and regulation would be next-to-impossible. But, really, shouldn't you at least prove that you can FEED a child before bringing one into being? Shouldn't you be screened for lunacy before being allowed to have child, that will otherwise wind up being duct-taped to the bed and forced to commit suicide at the tender age of 8?

Just food for thought.

Hell no to a license!!

YES!

Hmmm kinda weird...maybe.....


since we're on this topic...is childbirth really that painful?....seems to be much easier for some.

PurpleJedi said:

And how would you forcibly keep men from fathering babies? What would you do with 'illegally' pregnant women? What would you with children born of parents without a license?

unlucky7 said:

Drugs make it easier for childbirth these days apparantly.

CarrieMpls said:

That falls under the "impossible to regulate" part.

I don't see how such a thing can be implemented... are we talking about forced abortions? because conception would be impossible to prevent...

EDIT: Sorry Purple... you covered the impossible to regulate part... yes, I agree that some people certainly 'should not' have children...
[Edited 11/4/06 19:36pm]

coolcat said:

...OK, I've been thinking about this for the past few minutes.

How's about - hypothetically - feeding people contraceptives (male & female) on a mandatory basis until they get a "voucher" (license) to allow them to get "off" the meds?

This brainstorm was inspired by the Taiwanese factories in Honduras which require their female workers to take a daily contraceptice pill in order to keep their jobs.

They did it in China. And then off course we had the Nazi`s. Is that where we wanna go?

PurpleJedi said:

far out

It would be impossible to do fairly...but in an ideal society, yes.

What about the people who lose their jobs after they have the license and the kids. Or the insanity shows up after getting the license and having the kids?
Or the borderline mentally disabled who might be denied a license but would be great parents with a little help?

Just asking...

It's all very well to say about plenty of people, that we've all witnessed, that they shouldnt have been allowed to precreat, for whatever reason. Dont get snobbish with me, its said the world over. Whether theyre perceived as stupid, dirt poor, crazy or simply bad parents. I'm guessing these people are the ones the radio callers were imagining.

But its another thing entirely to take away their human right to procreate. Maybe as a form of population control its different, as in China, but then I dont know anything about the statistics that showed that such an extreme measure was actually required. If the people described above were not allowed to have children, lets face it - plenty of us wouldn't be here.

Why not address the issues surrounding poverty and education instead? Obviously those poeple that called in and agreed would be mortified if they were one of the ones banned from having children. It's not the answer, just because you happen be less fortunate financially doesnt mean you wont be a great parent. Also what about single parents? would they be banned? If one of the criterea is to be in a stable relationship, what if the parents divorce what happens to the child?

Without Fucking Question.

All of the idiots are making babies.

I sometimes feel the necessity to have children just to counteract the moron population growth.

Not like that would ever be possibe. We can't even control firearms.

But if it was possible, definetly.

It's impossible to do, but I wish we could. Too many people are having kids that shouldn't.

unlucky7 said:

yes. lol

luv4all7 said:

True...true...

evenstar3 said:

I agree.

I think so.

Though I'm pretty sure that I don't have any children,
being that I'm a Puerto Rican who grew up in a Puerto Rican neighborhood,
I'm not a 100% sure.

So every Father's Day,
I get in my car & drive thru the streets of my ol' 'hood,
& wave to all the kids that I pass by, just to be on the safe side.
And whenever I look in the rear view mirror,
I always notice that there's a small parade of vehicles doing the exact same thing.

Illustrator said:

!!!!!

it's one of those things that sounds almost kind of appealing in theory, but would be at best impossible (and at worst nightmarishly impossible) in practice.

i guess we just need to have faith in nature to sort out our overpopulation problems.

Anx said:

More natural disasters.

Cloudbuster said:

it's not like we have any more star wars movies to look forward to.

PurpleJedi said:

That women should have her ovaries taken from her. That story made me absolutely sick...and just think of all the other cases that havnen't been found yet. How could you do that to a poor, innocent child? Makes me sick.

So my answer...should it? Yes. Can it? Probably not.
[Edited 11/6/06 8:14am]

CarrieLee said:

I notice that if I look really hard,
I can see the ovaries in your avie.

Illustrator said:

Wise guy