As a follow-up to Everybody Dies and the philosophy chapters of Losing:
The primary purpose of any morality must be the reduction of suffering. Nothing external justifies or offsets causing an individual to suffer greatly.
This doesn't just apply to tormenting someone or paying Tyson to have tortured them. It also applies to bringing an individual into existence.
A potential child's right* to a good life free from intense suffering supersedes anyone's right to reproduce.
This might be obvious if the two parents are carriers of a terrible genetic disease that is certain to be passed on and cause their offspring significant suffering.
This also applies if the couple has reason to suspect their offspring might have a similar disease. In this case, the only ethical choice is amniocentesis (or other genetic screening) with abortion as the humane way to prevent the disease from unnecessarily ravaging a new life.
These are specific examples of a broader ethic that extends beyond a known genetic disease. In short:
The right of any potential child to a good life overrides anyone's right to reproduce. Full stop.
This is the underlying philosophy of The Fair Start Movement. (And related to the purpose of The Organization for the Prevention of Intense Suffering.)
The most impactful step we can take to reduce human suffering may well be funding programs to give women full control over their reproductive choices. (In the United States, that includes voting and campaigning for Democrats and against the Christianist Patriarchy at every single opportunity. No exceptions.)
(As in Losing, I use "rights" here as a shorthand; I'm not a deontologist.)
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