Reply #118: but walking IS a right, and yet we also have a concept of jaywalking...

[NorthernSpy]

... which is an offense. People have liberty of movement and freedom of speech under law. But they also have a responsibility under law not to do things that violate other people's rights while exercising their own.

I don't disagree with you that the criminalizing of reproduction is a violation of human rights. But I will point out again that expecting people to take responsibility for the lives they create is not the same thing as "criminalizing reproduction".

You have a right to have kids. But you have no right to abandon those kids once you've had them. If a parent cannot provide all the essential material conditions of a decent life, that's where the state can step in and make up the difference. But it's up to the parent to be the parent.

While a person like the woman in the story should not be put in jail for producing children, as far as I'm concerned she can be put in jail for refusing to do her duty as a parent.

Have all the children you want. But fulfill your responsibilities to those children as well as your financial situation will allow, or go to jail.

That's all I'm saying. And I fail to see why this idea is unreasonable.



(edit: fixed typo)