Noone else should ever be given control over reproductive rights,, that is a Pandoras Box waiting to happen. Noone is perfect, some learn as they go, some are naturals,, there is no predetermination that can predict what will or wont happen .

Reality is that at times I have seen those that most would think would not be good parents that are the best. Then those highly intelligent that have kids but pass them off cause they are too busy for them and end up not being worth a damn as parents.

So who is there to determine who should and should not. I will agree ones such as listed clearly don't need kids nor want them.

But no test can truly tell who would be better parents....

who says?

Why is reproduction and the responsibility to love and care for a child a "right"?

What about a child's right to not be abused and/or neglected?

Which right is more important?

The "right" to reproduce should never be hampered when someone is capable and willing to handle the responsibility. It should be hampered, however, when the person isn't.

That would be unfortunate... hopefully science would perfect the process by the time I'm queen of the universe

If not, there's adoption.

What I find to be even more unfortunate than the inability to have your own biological children, is the abuse of children born to sociopaths.

Bravo! This was how I was going to reply as well.

Keeping our civil rights is very important but not at the cost of a child born into insanity or to abusive, neglectful parents.

The unborn should be protected rather than the unworthy people who "just want to have babies".

so who decides who can have children? what criteria? you don't really know if they will be a good parent until the kids are born.

There are some I wouldn't have let them watch my dog, but turned out to be great parents.

Some I would have thought would be excellent parents but now I wouldn't let them watch my dog....let alone be parents.

Can't agree with tests.

I don't trust the people that would determine the standards for acceptable parenting.

Those people being any people who think that there should be universal standards.

Dig it.

Now that I think about it, putting a child up for adoption if everyone is sterilized until they apply for reversal would be pretty rare...

What I meant, i guess, was surrogate pregnancies, paid for by my administration

Psychologists could dedicate themselves to perfecting the criteria. Perhaps trial periods could be employed where people care for pets first etc...

I'm just a psych student, but I'm sure that if people put their minds to it such a system of evaluations could be devised. I think the magnitude of the responsibility of raising a child is very much worth the effort.

Instead of thinking up ways it could go wrong, as is the natural human tendency with any kind of change, I think that energy could be better spent figuring out how to perfect it. Think about the many ways the status quo fails.

Ah well, maybe the human race isn't ready quite yet. Maybe in the next couple hundred years or so.

Womb for rent.......

in theory, that would be good. The problem is no one can predict how a person would be as a parent 100%

A good friend of mine in school got pregnant at 16. she was wild and into drugs. Now, she is a great parent. her oldest child is my son's good friend. She grew up and took responsibility when she got pregnant.

I'm sure psychologists would have told her (back then) she shouldn't have kids. She came from a bad family. But they would have been wrong

There are child abusers that (looking back) you would have never guessed they would abuse their kids as well.

repeated yearly evaluations. if turned down one year, if she wanted the child badly enough, could get off drugs etc and apply again the next year.

the incidence of child abusers would be dramatically decreased, but those few that slip through doesn't mean that the entire system should be scrapped. that's like the fda banning condoms because they're not 100% fail proof.

true, the problem is nothing is 100% and it would cost a lot of money to evaluate people and to medically control birth.

I probably would have been one that said I shouldn't be a parent due to how my child was conceived but, even though I'm not a perfect parent and I made mistakes, I wouldn't have wanted any one controlling whether I had my child or not. I wouldn't have traded him for the world and I did my best as a parent to raise him to be a good adult.

Maybe it's just me but that sounds kind of communistic... haha

But I know what you mean... some people are not fit to reproduce and raise their own young...
Hence, the Darwin Award.

The hell with your pets....If you know any unfit parents please get them spayed or neutered.

no-one would expect perfection, people just expect you not to sell your kid into prostitution...

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/11/16/crimesider/entry5671683.shtml

...or the like.

and those parents need to be in prison and pay for it. But no one should be able to predict the future.

going back to the costs...who pays for the doctor's visit and the sterilization until someone else deems you fit to be a parent? who is to say the doctor's wouldn't get greedy and keep people from becoming parents to just fill their wallets?

sorry, but if that was the case when I got pregnant...I'd move to another country

The government.

I know that some countries have a rather severe irrational case of "cummunistaphobia"... but some things are, in my humble opinion, a wee bit more important...

In my country, we're not communist, we have democratic elections, we're a peaceful country, no wars, businesses thrive, however, there is free health care for everyone. We manage to not blow up.

If a country could manage free health care for everyone, I don't see how government subsidized reversible sterilizations couldn't happen.

But as I said, debating this in this day and age is futile. I don't think it'd happen in our lifetimes.

Jasmine but we see how well the governments do huh? Plus the money comes from the tax payers, which some can't afford to survive themselves now.

I do know there are children that I wish I could take in just to get them away from their parents....so I do understand where you are coming from. My problem is that no one knows how good or bad someone will be as a parent until they are actually parents.


I do understand the concern. I have neighbors across the street that IMO shouldn't be parents. But even some kids from abusive homes have used that to better themselves as adults.