Birthright

Recent news has been peppered with stories about the reproductive rights of women. The Catholic Church's attempts to undermine public health reform for women raised the current controversy. The reproductive rights of women have been banner issues in modern feminism for decades for good reason. These issues run the gamut from simple birth control methods to the most scientifically complicated fertilization methods. Science supports the notion that female reproductive rights and the dynamics of poverty are closely linked.

The issue of birthright is usually ignored. As illustrated in this story, the birthright of children is seldom considered with thorough scientific investigation by the courts. The rights of birth parents trump, or are equated with, the birthright of children to proper nurturing, safety and education. This is a blind spot among many natural parents who tend to see themselves, perhaps unconsciously, as omnipotent custodians and possessors of their children.

My humanist views on children diverge from many commonly accepted assumptions of birth parents. This is how I see it: Children are not pets. Children are not puppets. Children do not exist to please or cater to parents. Children are individual human beings with unique human experiences and a birthright to develop to their best potential.

My view differs considerably from pro-life dicta about life's sanctity and immortality. My views place the onus on the natural parents to consciously deliver the birthright of any life they procreate. I would have this codified into law, based in the best current information from developmental and medical science. Parents who procreate and subsequently deny their child his/her birthright would be held criminally liable. This would entail a sea change in criminal and civil law.

The notorious Octo-Mom is perhaps the most grotesque example of a procreating parent who took no stock of her responsibilities before having eight children at once as a single parent with limited resources and an apparent psychiatric history. She was enabled by a government-licensed physician. Yet she became a celebrity with many female defenders. Until the birthright of each and every child is secured by society, the quality of life will be diminished for all society. The current political debates in this Presidential year in the U.S. are far off that mark.