It is Irresponsible to have Children.

It is Irresponsible to have Children. By “Irresponsible”, I mean “Lacking foresight”.By “Have Children”, I mean “Give birth to a human being”. I will begin by pointing out that people who have children did one of two things. 1. They planned to have children, and succeeded. 2. They did not plan to have children, but chose to out of convenience. Many people who have children did not plan them. The most common situation is that a couple has a lot of sex, and something bad happens. A condom breaks, or the pill doesn’t work due to a hormonal imbalance.The woman later discovers that she is pregnant, and then proceeds to shrug her shoulders and say “Oh well,” without a second thought. This is an incredibly irresponsible decision for a myriad of reasons. 1. It is Financially Irresponsible.A single child costs AT LEAST $10,000 a year. This does not include the cost of schooling, hospital visits, or holidays. This cost covers food and clothes alone. Very few people who have a child actually stop and think about what this means. Now, if you make $40,000 a year, that’s fine. The problem is that most people don’t. Most people are like me- they make minimum wage and live paycheck to paycheck. Giving birth to a child that you cannot afford to take care of is both irresponsible and cruel. 2. It is Physically Irresponsible. Pregnancy is dangerous, and carrying it to term could have serious health risks- especially if the woman in question is underweight. Childbirth is both incredibly dangerous and painful, not to mention extremely costly. 3. Giving Birth to a Child is Selfish.There are already plenty of children, already alive, who need loving families. Bringing another child into the world without even a moment’s consideration for these children is more than selfish- it is absolutely callous. There are too many unwanted children in the world already to go making more. 4. Human Overpopulation is a Serious Issue. There are almost 7 BILLION people in the world, and while it’s easy to think, “Well there’s plenty of room in Wisconsin. Why doesn’t everyone just move there?” the problem isn’t space, it’s resources. There simply isn’t enough food and water to go around, and adding another mouth to feed isn’t going to resolve the situation. 5. Finally, my biggest issue that very few people stop to consider the fact that, when you have a child, you become fully responsible for the life of another human being. Very few people think about how they would raise a child BEFORE having one. It’s not until they’re arguing with their spouse that they realize that they had never thought about corporal punishment before, or how they would handle the sex questions their three-year-old is throwing their way. Most parents fail to realize that every single thing they do, on a daily basis, has a profound influence on their child. If she lets her husband knock her around every night, then her son is going to grow up thinking that that is the proper way to treat women. If a man beats his daughter, he is teaching her that violence is an effective reaction to frustration, or that violence is a means to solve problems People who choose to have children fail to realize that every moment of every day, they are being studied by their offspring. Every little thing that a parent does is taken in as a lesson, from swearing in frustration to how parents treat one-another. I don’t think anyone can handle this level of responsibility- but the ones who realize this are better-suited than those who do not. Therefore, choosing to become a parent is an irresponsible decision. Due to time constraints, I did not have the time to cite sources. At my opponent's request, I am wiling to provide them in the next round. I look forward to my opponent's arguments and rebuttals.