"Is That Your Kid? Where's Your License?": A Philosophical Perspective on the Right to Procreate
Date
1999
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Publisher
ORCID
Type
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
This thesis will show that the state has a moral obligation to regulate procreation. It will proceed in two sections, the first outlining why the state ought to regulate procreation, and the second section showing that it is practical for the state to do so. It will be argued, first by moral analogy, that since the state already regulates adoptive parenthood it ought to do the same for procreative parenthood. The thesis will also develop the child's right to be protected from unsuitable parents from first moral principles from both a consequentialist, and a rights-based moral approach. It turns out that to protect the rights and interests of the individual child is what would maximize the general happiness in society. In concluding the first section of the thesis it will be shown that the regulation of procreation is neither paternalistic, nor does it represent an undue cost to liberty. The second section of the thesis provides arguments for the practical feasibility of regulating procreation. Specifically, aspects of the dollar cost of enforcement, detection, the element of psychological realism, and the punishment of offenders will be addressed. Since the first section shows that the state ought to regulate procreation, and this section that it can regulate procreation, the state is morally obligated to do so.
This thesis is an appeal for reproductive responsibility. Some countries in the world already regulate procreation for practical reasons and sooner or later every country will have to do so for the purpose of population control. But we in Canada have the opportunity to do the right thing for the right reason--for the sake of the child. It is up to society to decide which way it will be.
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Degree
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Department
Philosophy
Program
Philosophy