Biomedical ethics: principles and applications

Child Limit Laws

Biomedical Ethics

The debate regarding the right of having children against the importance of national family planning has raged for years. In the late 1960s, many strongly believed that a decline in fertility rates would slow population growth, especially in developing countries and thus reduce poverty. This was the popular view at the time but in the 1980s, there emerged a fresh thinking about the right to bear children. The proponents of this alternative view based their argument on the thought that demographic characteristics had no role in reduction of poverty Huang, Mincy and Garfinkel 1216()

New evidence has emerged that support the first view and showed that trends in the population are important in reducing poverty. However, the challenge for this is that there is progress in ensuring economic and social empowerment of the population including their right to bear children. By presenting the case for both arguments, it may be possible to present a strong case for one option in this old controversy. It is important for economic policies in both developed and developing countries to undergo demographic change, however, at the same time it is important to ensure the protection of rights of the population to bear children.

Population increase and poverty levels

Some scholars argue that population and poverty create an endless vicious cycle. According to these scholars, poverty causes growth in population, which in turn causes poverty. The argument here is because the poorest people tend to have the most children, which tends to create more poverty in the population. Support of the vicious cycle of poverty comes from evidence that poor families are trapped in poverty for a minimum of three generations with limited or no resources at all. They face difficulties in their livelihood as a result of poverty and this leads them into more poverty. They are unable to get economic assistance, jobs, and capital for investment, which leads to greater poverty.

One of the proponents of this argument differentiates situational and generational poverty by defining the former as poverty that arises from a particular event in the life of the breadwinners of the family. Generational poverty, on the other hand, is the pattern of poverty that passes from one generation to the next. It goes on and creates its own cultures and beliefs. In the face of poverty, poor families feel they need many children to help in their farms and as a result of high child mortality rates, the only way to achieve this was by getting pregnant more times in order to achieve the needed family size. This creates more poverty since the families become unable to support their children and the children who were seen as a source of labor become a burden for the family and the society when they are unable to feed them. Since the children are also unable to get proper education, they are unable to get themselves out of poverty thus fostering the pattern of generational poverty. Data from the World Health Organization shows that as a result of high infant mortality rates in these poor communities, the family fears for the death of the child and thus will increase their fertility based on this without giving consideration to their income or current family size Gordon and Hognas 376()

As the population increases, there is also the issue of increased consumption, which causes a strain on available resources, industrial pollution, and decreased food supply. All these factors have negative effects on the economy and the environment. The vicious cycle of poverty hampers developed by causing imbalance between the underdeveloped and developed regions. Since the poverty is associated with considerable increase in population, there is reason to argue that efforts to get the population out of poverty become unproductive since the strain on available resources increases greatly. The World Bank also states that the poor are unable to access credit facilities and therefore they are not able to invest in profitable activities that promote economic growth. Therefore, they are unable to contribute to development efforts. This creates the issue of exploitation where the rich may oppress the poor by giving them low-paying jobs that though improve their income, do not help to get them out of poverty Edmonds 84()

Others argue that the effect of generational poverty becomes irreversible after three generational cycles. This is because they do not have any resources to create a better future for themselves and therefore they can only rely on their families. Therefore, they are unable to benefit each other and this hampers development efforts considerably. A study conducted in Bangladesh found that children at the early age of six years were involved in labor to supplement the meager income of the family. This means that the child is unable to give due attention to their education and by the age of twelve, many of them drop out of school in order to contribute to the family. The study found that at the age of twelve, the child contributes more to the family than what they require for their own survival. Therefore, the child is turned to be a breadwinner too early causing them greater problem Genicot 91()

The case for the right to bear children

The universal declaration of human rights, which the United States supports, provides for the freedom of choice and the right to marriage and family. This is one of the biggest reasons for this argument. The proponents of this argument state that it is important to let people be in control of their choices especially those relating to their marriages or families. By putting policy in place that limits the number of children that a family can have, this infringes on their rights. According to the proclamation of the International Conference on Human Rights in 1968, parents are given the basic right to determine both freely and responsibly the spacing and number of their children. By placing a limit on the number of children or spacing of the children, it is a violation of the provisions of this proclamation Harris 39()

The limit on number of children also creates the problem of increased abortions and sterilizations. As a result of the one-child policy in China, the number of abortions in one county in a year increased by 20,000. Other reports suggest that women who were as far as 8.5 months in their gestation were forced to abort their children. Others were forced to kill their children immediately before or after birth. Therefore, child limit laws are against pro-choice legislation, which have been passed in different states and countries. Child limit laws also force birth control on parents. It is important for the government not to force women to have birth control.

In developed countries, it is argued that child limit laws do not have any effect on hunger, starvation and poverty. This is because these countries have an effective social system where children are supported by the government. Another problem that has been created by child limit laws is birth tourism. This is where women temporarily move to places where they are no child limit laws in order to give birth to the number of children they feel they need overseas. Therefore, the child limit laws fail to have any effect on controlling the population or poverty Apel et al. 348()