My last question today... better make it special...?

Question

What do you think about population control laws? How severe do yo uthink they, and their punishments will get? It is almost a certainty that the time will come when we wil have need of them, but what do you think will happen?

I think we need to impose a law NOW that disallows more than 2 children per couple, except under certain exceptions like a person being with another person...

I know it would suck, and it seems unethical... but what about the millions of deaths that will result from overpopulation if we don;t do something? Don't you think it's worth it?
Opinions?

Haha, I'm being compared to Hitler...

Some people amaze me in a bad way...

I don't know if you read my question, and realize I am for this due to overpopulation, which I can easly compare to mass murder on the part of those who contribute.

Look at the big picture people, get out of your little world and look towards the future.

"We'll cross the overpopulation bridge when we come to it. We're far from it, right now."

Okay... I'll worry abut brushing my teeth when they start to rot and fall out...


Why am I being accused of supporting forced abortions and mass executions? I said absolutely nothing of the sort. My idea will probably prevent this, when it gets that far...

I mean for this system to apply to the whole world. I remember in a book I read once (sci fi) that the world had trade embargoes on nations that didn't comply with the population control rules... that one was interesting.

I live in Santa Rosa, California, and am 15 years old with no children :-)

Answer 1

Population explosion is a serious problem and it will get worst before it will get better. This is something that governments around the world should have been caring for couple of generations ago, beginning in 60's.
Not by imposing laws but by educating people. It is a fact that the reproduction rates in the more developed countries is lower. There is also a real correlation with the economy:
The higher the GDP the lower the rate. Countries like Japan, Germany, USA are forced to bring foreign worker to fill in the demand while other poorer countries "export" people.
Education is always the best solution.

Answer 2

Hello David,

First of all, you do not specify whether you mean the whole planet or a certain country, in particular. In some underdevelped places, it is indeed a problem. But then again, in America, so is teenage pregnancy, spousal abuse, child abuse, drug and alcohol addiction, poverty, AIDS, hurricanes, and the list goes on. As a mother of four children, 17, 13, 13, and 5, ( no fertility drugs involved) I am not sure if I believe the government should have anything to do with, or say about, how many children I am allowed to have. My tubes are tied, since four, to me, is quite enough.

Have you given any thought back toward the times when the average married couple conceived between eight and fourteen children ? Granted, back then, many infants and small ones lost , due to the mortality rate. All one has to do is visit an old cemetery to see that statistic.

Again, you do not say where you live, and I wonder if you have any children. I cannot imagine that such a law could ever be passed, since this invades the feedom of an American's personal choice.

Seems to me that the only real method of enforcement would be a mandatory sterilization of any one over the age of 30. Chastity belts for anyone under that age, and if you happen to be raped, cut the dude's weiner off, and abort the fetus.

What I am trying to say, my friend, is that overpopulation is far too complex an issue to ever be dealt with in any sort of practical manner.

As Whoopi Goldberg so eloquently put it, "Ain't no sense in trying to stop t-agers from having relations, it feels too good!!".

Have to go, way past my bedtime, but, hang in there

Answer 3

Two months ago, in a debate on the legal right to choose, I wrote the following:
"
Do you know why China can mandate abortions and force sterilizations? Because reproductive choice is not a guaranteed right in China. As soon as Casey is overturned (for those who forget: Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Court in Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992) we've lost freedom from government interference in reproductive choice.

If the Supreme Court does decide that reproductive rights are not fundamental rights, if women lose the individual right to choose, and the government makes all the decisions. Try to imagine what could happen, if all reproductive rights are now subject to state control.

New York or Florida could pass a law saying that anyone making less than $30K per year cannot have children, and must abort any pregnancy, because they obviously cannot support them financially. No constitutional challenge, because reproductive rights are no longer nationally protected.

Or North Carolina or Texas decides that convicted felons should never have children, and starts imposing mandatory sterilization as part of criminal sentences. Again, no constitutional challenge, because reproductive rights are no longer protected.
"
I thought it would be years before people started proposing such laws, after the courts had already stripped reproductive rights away from women as part of the neo-con campaign to have government control over all personal behavior.

I guess I was being optimistic.

Answer 4

We'll cross the overpopulation bridge when we come to it. We're far from it, right now.

No, I don't agree with your idea. I doubt it will ever come about in America. We haven't even switched to the metric system, yet.

Lots of folks feared and prepared for an "inevitable" Y2K that never happened. Then all my rich friends were stuck with their high tech contraptions that would freeze dry food for when the store shelves would be empty.

No, forced population control is a very bad idea.

Here's my favorite reason for why Y2K never happened. And I'm sure the sock monkeys will save us from overpopulation, too.
http://www.sock-monkey.com/y2k.html

Answer 5

I think that is a very evil idea, one that would lead to murder on a mass scale, starting with the unborn, then working it's way up to the sick, the injured, the elderley, anyone that is concidered by someone else to be less valuable and useless. Why should our lives depend on someone else's opinion of wether or not I am beneficial to the population? That is an EVIL idea, and do you remember Nazi Germany? Hitler thought that population control was a good thing too.

Answer 6

I don't know how well it will go over, especially since there are several religions that still promote large families as if we are still needing to go forth and multiply... Then there are the people who just "like babies"....
I have three children myself, but there are two dad's, and both dad's have no other children, so I didn't add to the population. ON purpose, (I even had my tubes tied at the birth of #3.)
I think it is a nessecity for our future to be conscientious about our over population. But as I said.... I don't know how anyone is going to get it done on a large scale. The subject is just SO personal.
Suggestions?

Answer 7

Are we going to have forced abortions and export excess kids like China does? I think the force of public opinion is lowering the birth rate well enough in this country. I know many people in their 70's and 80's who had 10 or 15 siblings. Now, that is rare enough to be freakish in most of the US.

Answer 8

It is a tough tough question. There are so many reasons for and against. However, since I do not trust reproduction issues to politicians, I am going to have to go with "no". There should not be government imposed population control. I would like to she what the Chinese have to say on the subject, but only the ones in America who are free to actually say what they really think. I see you have at least one answer from one, and she says no. I am going to have to go with experience and agree with her.

Answer 9

Umm yeah I used to live in China and I've seen what a horrible thing population control is. So no , I don't agree with your idea.

Answer 10

although there are people out there who just should not have kids at all, i just can't get behind your limit. it's not necessarily the size of the population that will cause deaths, but the lack of anyone caring to find a way to adequately serve that population.