Should poor people have kids

[Jazzy]

Do you think that poor people should have kids if they want kids? Why or why not?

(By poor people, I'm talking about people at poverty level and/or on welfare)

 

[Lamb]

Of course they should be allowed to have kids. They should also be educated on natural family planning so they can know when not to have intercourse to avoid getting pregnant if their finances won't allow any more children.

I went to a ladies tea yesterday and the speaker was from a pregnancy center. There are places in every state in the US where the poor can get assistance such as free ultrasounds, diapers, bedding, etc... There is help available even though the White House and the news insists that abortions are the only way to handle it

 

[Stravinsk]

The poor shouldn't have kids because Jesus was a rich man who traveled through an eye of a needle while riding a camel and as such could testify to God's preferences for men having riches and power.

 

[tango]

I guess there are two questions mixed together here.

The first, the one presented, is whether poor people should have kids. That's a personal decision.

The related question is what responsibility, if any, society has to keep handing over ever-more welfare to families who keep popping out endless children despite not having the means to provide for them. Another related question is when the family is so incapable of providing for the children that they get taken into care.

 

[Fritz Kobus]

I think all people should be allowed to responsibly have kids. People who are out to milk the welfare system shouldn't but I don't think we want the government to enact laws to stop them because every law passed seems to have unintended consequences. In fact, I think there are welfare programs now that promote irresponsibly having kids.

People should avoid welfare. The church should help those who are responsible and otherwise would end up on welfare.

 

[tango]

People should avoid welfare. The church should help those who are responsible and otherwise would end up on welfare.

In an ideal world people probably would avoid welfare. But if you can get as much on welfare as you would get by working, it's easy to see why people decide not to bother working. There's enough shouting going on about why unskilled jobs should pay $15/hour, it's easy enough to see why people don't want to work if the difference between a wage and welfare is less than $1/hour.

 

[Josiah]

It might depend (a bit) on WHO is telling them... and WHO is deciding what "poor" is.

IF we're talking Big Brother then NO!!! IF we're talking friends and family discouraging such for the time, MAYBE. Then again, if you wait until you can afford kids, then no one would ever have kids. They aren't a good financial investment.



.

 

[Jazzy]

If they can feed, clothe, shelter, and support them. I see no reason why not. If the kids going to live a miserable hungry life in poverty then no.

 

[tango]

If they can feed, clothe, shelter, and support them. I see no reason why not. If the kids going to live a miserable hungry life in poverty then no.

One problem is that you never know what the future holds. What happens if you have a couple who is reasonably financially comfortable but then suffers the kind of accident or illness that causes the income to dry up?

It doesn't change the issue of couples who have six kids they can't feed having a seventh and an eighth, it just makes it impossible to figure out who is "deserving" of welfare and who is not.

 

[Fritz Kobus]

We had two kids. Wish we had had 5 or 6. When they are out on their own you miss having some around.