This Woman Was Forced to be Sterilized: What Would You Do?

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/parenting/this-woman-was-forced-to-be-sterilized-what-would-you-do-2413398

by hachiya • 16 years ago

4 4 16 years ago

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dools• 16 years ago

Well, in answer to the question "what would you do?", I guess number 1 on the list of possible actions would be to get a vasectomy after having my first child.

gnosis• 16 years ago

That sucks, but overpopulation is one of the greatest threats to the world today, and it's only going to get worse if people continue having children at the rate they are today.

That said, I'm not sure what the right answer is when people don't voluntarily have fewer children.

Personally, my own contribution to the solution is not to have kids at all. If I ever want a kid badly enough, I'll adopt.

hachiya• 16 years ago

I would say it is pure evil.

ghshephard• 16 years ago

I'm interested (genuinely) in what portion of this you think is pure evil. I don't think trying to maintain a proper balance between population growth and resources isn't evil, so China's focus on "One Child" (particularly given it's already massive population, and massive impact on the planet once that population starts to develop a higher standard of living) is reasonable.

Infanticide, would be seen by most of us in the first world as evil - though there are many ethical reasons why it would be acceptable in historical civilizations where the addition of a new child could result in communal risk/starvation (Think tribal societies that were on the edge of survival - not really relevant in most societies today, and certainly not in China).

But, is forced sterilization evil, per se? Or is it just our western cultures sense of what is right and wrong?

Where do you draw the line, and do you accept that a country has some right to control it's population through mechanisms such as penalties for second children, withholding government care, etc...

I'm really quite interested in knowing where the debate lines are drawn with this.

This Woman Was Forced to be Sterilized: What Would You Do?

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