The Right to Only One Child
Catholic Exchange published a rebuttal to Carter Dillard’s belief that we are only allowed to have only one child. Dillard is a population control proponent.
The first problem with Dillard’s proposal is that although he claims that we have the right to replace ourselves, we apparently have the right to only have one child per family. My argument is that if we have to replace ourselves shouldn’t it be having 2 children - one to replace me and one to replace my wife.
Secondly, in order to replace ourselves we have to maintain the gender balance as well, therefore we should ensure that each family brings forth one male child and one female child. Now I don’d know how to accomplish this in a natural, pro-life method, i.e., without practicing eugenics.
The problem with Carter Dillard and other proponents of population control and even birth control is that they have a scarcity mentality. This means that they believe that resouces are limited and these resources will be depleted when the human population exceed a certain threshold.
Let’s look at our own lives. Do we have more to eat compared to our parents when they were younger. Isn’t the world becoming richer rather than poorer? This is the contratian attitude of the outlook of abundance. Our God is a person of abundance. After all He is the One creating all these babies - those who survive gestation and also those who are aborted.
If we believe that God is omniscient then He should know the limit of the Earth’s population before resources will be exhausted. That’s why in Genesis, He commands us to go forth and multiply. Doesn’t Father know best?
What are your views on this subject of the abundance viewpoint versus the scarcity mentality?
