Crazy Talk 3: Who should or should not be allowed to have kids?

Many people view the right to have children as something very fundamental or God given if you will. And that no one on Earth, has the right to decide for them whether or not they can have kids or how many for that matter. It is an extremely personal issue for a lot of people as well as highly controversial in today's world. So much so that the vast majority of people, especially politicians are extremely reluctant to address the issue of whether or not everyone actually should have the right to procreate. Specifically in relation to individuals who for whatever genetic fluke are incapable of having healthy fully functional offspring on their own. For this very important and understandably controversial issue really does need to be addressed, if not now then very, very soon in the near future. Especially since aside from the fact that there are just way too many people in the world to begin with, there are a great many individuals on this planet who should never be allowed to have children in the first place, yet they are still continuing to have children regardless of the consequences. Which brings me to my main point, and that is if these select individuals are unwilling or unable to abstain from procreating, they need to be legally prevented from doing so at all costs

Said select individuals I am referring to in this case, because of flawed DNA, chromosomal abnormalities, damage and/or because of a myriad of other genetic or congenital birth defects, are wholly incapable of producing healthy, fully functional offspring. And for the purpose of clarifications I am not talking about just the slight chance of a problem occurring here. I am specifically referring to severely damaging or negative genetic traits and birth defects unquestionably being passed on to any children they attempt to bring to term. Now the term Healthy and Fully functional can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people, so my suggestion of the definition would be very standard and easy to recognize. In this case it would specifically mean what every healthy normal human being on the planet is supposed to have from the very moment of their birth. The standard fully functional body and all it's parts, including two arms, two legs, fully functional sensory organs, as well as all the physical and mental abilities and capabilities associated with the human condition. It is also important to note that I am no way suggesting that people who are only capable of giving birth to children who will be below average height, need glasses, go bald prematurely, have small breast, or have really bad acne as a teenager or anything else so superficial be forbidden from reproducing. I am simply and specifically referring to real quality of life and serious health issues, where there is something substantially wrong or where severe physical deformities are involved. So in other words think of a healthy and complete human being as one big complete puzzle that comes in a box, that you want to make sure has all the pieces necessary to complete the image. If a few of the pieces are missing or damaged than you do not have a complete puzzle and never will no matter what you do, it is as simple as that.

Naturally with today's level of modern medicine we can fix a lot of genetic mistakes or abnormalities, but I am not talking about such minor things that can be corrected with surgery. I am talking about things that we cannot fix no matter what we do, like if someone is born blind, deaf, without feet or hands, or will develop severe schizophrenia and/or other serious mental illnesses or severe mental retardation such as down syndrome. As there are unfortunately some people out there who because of their own chromosomal damage or genetic defects can only have children with down syndrome or other serious defects, yet they still continue to have children because of their personal or religious beliefs and that is totally unacceptable in today's world! There are so many things in this world that our level of medical knowledge and science simply cannot cure as well as circumstance were such individuals life would not be manageable or even livable because of their condition, and it is totally irresponsible to subject anyone to such a life.

A lot of people reading this might possibly be enraged or offended by some of the things I am suggesting or saying, especially those who either have siblings or children with some of the problems I have outlined. But I would like everyone who disagrees with me to consider this very important set of facts. If a man went up to an innocent bystander in the street and blinded him, deafened him, lobotomized him, or dismembered him. This act would be regarded as a crime and the person responsible would be considered a criminal and treated accordingly. So when a person is fully aware that they are only capable of having offspring with serious disabilities such as deafness, blindness, or passing on even worse genetic disorders, this is also akin to a criminal act. For intentionally inflicting damage upon an innocent bystander cannot be seen as anything else nor taken as anything else other than an actual crime against another.



Especially since it is so easily prevented in most cases nowadays because of genetic testing and screening. Which we are totally able to do with today's level of scientific knowledge and medicine. In fact there are a lot of genetic disorders that would disappear completely if certain individuals who carried such traits would simply refrain from passing them on. But people are basically selfish and I have a very good example of this. Here in the LA area there is a somewhat well known newscaster who has a rare genetic condition where you are born without hands. Aside from this fact, the person is otherwise healthy. The woman in question because of her genetic condition has more than a 75% chance of passing this on to her offspring. Now while the chance of passing on this genetic damage is not 100%, it is still pretty high and most rational caring individuals would not want to risk the safety of happiness of their future offspring with such odds. Yet this extremely selfish and unthinking woman had two children and both of them have this unfortunate condition, which I view as nothing less than a harmful criminal act against an innocent person. Since the woman knew she had the condition and the very likely changes she would pass this onto any children she might conceive, she still went ahead and did it anyway. This act was negligent, selfish, criminal and completely avoidable!

Now for some people nothing I have said is really going to make a difference, because as soon as we talking about who has the right to have children, or a certain people's genetics. People cannot help thinking about, and rightfully so, a certain other well known person who talked about genetics and a person's right to have children. Which is why I also wish to address what some people will most assuredly bring up or compare my Blogs tops to, and that is the similarities between what I have been talking about and some of the things that Hitler has spouted in his insane quest to rule the world. But let's get some things perfectly clear. I am a member of a minority group myself, and while I am not Jewish or religious I would be one the first of many to be killed in the gas chambers if I was around and alive during the time of Hitler's reign. So I am in no way suggesting anything even remotely close to a master race or genetic purity, as that is insane! The human Genome structure needs diversity to survive, to grow and continue to evolve, but more than that it needs a stable supply of genetically viable or healthy building material in which to use in the first place. I am also not advocating the killing of any individuals who are already alive today and suffering from severe disabilities in anyway. I am only specifically talking about preventing such births from occurring in the future. Everything I have been referring to has to do with select individuals who are incapable of providing the proper genetic material needed for all healthy and fully functional human beings to begin with, and that's all! You can get offended, you can say I am no better than Hitler or a monster for suggesting what I have, but what I have said has a strong basis in fact. Would you seriously have kids if you knew that every single one of them without a doubt would be born without arms or legs? Would you knowingly subject someone to that, and if you would, what does that say about you as a person? Also what would it say about a society if it allowed such going-ons, especially if they could be so easily prevented in the first place? It is something to definitely think about, for I guarantee that if the world's population continues to grow unchecked as it has, at some point the world's governments will step in and regulate who can and cannot have kids. And one of their first criteria in the determining process will be those individuals capable of producing healthy offspring and those who cannot. It is only a matter of time, which I why I would suggest people do it now of their own free will rather than have the decision forced upon them a later time by someone else.