Let's flip the selfishness question, because it only ever gets asked in one direction. Is it selfish to bring a child into a world of accelerating climate disruption, water stress, and political instability, knowing they didn't consent to any of it? Every parent is making an enormous gamble on behalf of someone who can't agree to the terms: gambling that the planet stays livable, that the economy holds, that their kid draws a lucky hand. And the motivation is so often openly self-interested: someone to love me, someone to carry my name, someone to cure my loneliness. If we're auditing motives, parental motives don't survive the audit either. At least the childfree aren't conscripting anyone.
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