---
title: "Having Kids Is Not A Choice"
source: "https://aninjusticemag.com/having-kids-is-not-a-choice-5ca838315178"
author:
  - "[[Christyl Rivers]]"
  - "[[Phd.]]"
published: 2024-07-05
created: 2024-10-29
description: "— Feminists do not tell women to get out and “work” or “Do not be mothers.” (Autonomy is the entire point of free choice.) — Global warming results in more complications and more deaths during…"
tags:
  - "clippings"
---
## Forget about Overpopulation, there are so many reasons why there is no “right to choose”

[

![Christyl Rivers, Phd.](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fill:88:88/0*CafI8q1T7n1U17Jt.)

](https://christylrivers.medium.com/?source=post_page---byline--5ca838315178--------------------------------)

[

![An Injustice!](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fill:48:48/1*suDnvWWEvtqQCxA2NEHoRA.png)

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![](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/0*xso0mSHjCRcFAkU1)

Photo by [National Cancer Institute](https://unsplash.com/@nci?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=referral) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=referral)

## Roaring Rivers

Torrents, currents, and ripples by **Christyl Rivers,** PhD.

## Babies are what happens while God is making other plans

For the love of GOD, (or if you’re atheist) please stop saying women having kids is a choice.

*Yes, it SHOULD be a choice in a civilization. But, it’s not yet.*

…Here are some facts and feelings to think about.

— Feminists do not tell women to get out and “work” or “Do not be mothers.” (Autonomy **is** the entire point of free choice.)

— The world has made childbearing unaffordable and unsustainable.

— Often, even billionaires do not take care of their own kids.

— Global warming results in more complications and more deaths during pregnancy, and for women with [children](https://www.unicef.org/reports/uprooted-growing-crisis-refugee-and-migrant-children).

— There are human relationships that cannot sustain childbirth.

— Millions of women get pregnant every day by accident.

— Trans women (who do exist) may not be able to have kids.

— There are places in the world where women have forced birth.

— There is date rape, and spouse rape, and even child rape.

— About 1,000 women per day die in pregnancy related deaths.

— Not every woman’s body can handle a pregnancy.

— Many women are infertile. (Christyl raises her protesting fist)

— Not all women are socialized and biologically programed to reproduce.

— Women have, at best, one third of their lives to be fertile.

— Fertility treatments, are rarely covered by insurance.

— The “choice” for IVF is more than $10,000 per cycle.

— Even conception is under the gun, (or, Pope robe?) in many faiths.

— Not all women love children.

— Many families already have kids from prior relationships.

— Few people can afford to adopt kids; often a for profit system with no guarantees, and very costly.

— Even if adoption were not racist, sexist, or costly, it can take years and years.

— Finally, did you know there are *men* who don’t want to support kids? Or even have them?

You may be able to think of other reasons. If so, speak up.

Every day we see stories and diatribes telling women to ***have*** kids, or to ***not*** have kids (usually by implying they should not be slutty, or careless, or both.) We hear of pro-natal nations who reward large families, or of infertile people who can’t have kids. Every precious life has different circumstances. We hear that women (or sometimes men) should find a fabulous breadwinner. We hear lots of financial advice telling men and women to budget, plan, manage, and optimize their time to accommodate their preferred number of kids. We hear that whole nations will collapse because there are not enough of young people working to support the elderly. This is the pro-natal stance which rewards fertility.

==Shouldn’t we also reward small families who do== ==*not*== ==contribute as much to the climate disasters we now have?==

We hear that men and women’s roles are in peril. We hear the world is not fit for children. (Or, conversely, that it really, really *needs* them now). We hear that if not enough of “our kind” reproduce, we will lose “our way of life.” We hear that no one even loves motherhood anymore. We hear that traditions are being lost.

But [WHO](https://www.who.int/westernpacific/health-topics/reproductive-health) numbers and the [UN](https://press.un.org/en/2024/sgsm22295.doc.htm), in addition to thousands of other global organizations, know that women seldom have affordable, healthy, strong, and educated kids in many, many nations.

Even as I write, many women are losing babies, and/or birthing babies in war zones and refugee camps. Yet every child born deserves to be wanted.

Most every position on the topic of “having children” centers on the idea that having children is a personal choice.

Oh, what freedom we would have were that the case!