To me, the decision (freely made) to have children is morally neutral—I am not utilitarian on this topic.
Birth rates usually fall substantially as female education levels rise and women become more empowered generally. I would be happier about the world if countries that currently have high birth rates see those birth rates fall thanks to better education levels etc. The sort of drastic fall in birth rates seen in, e.g., South Korea and Iran, are caused by large society-wide changes, and I don’t think it’s likely that as an outside donor I can do anything to help bring about similar society-wide change in, e.g., Nigeria.
But improved access to contraceptives and family planning information help at least some couples choose to have fewer children, and that is something that I would plausibly donate towards. (I don’t know what sort of cost-per-unwanted-birth-averted figure I’d need to prefer a donation to, say, Marie Stopes over a donation to SCI, but it’s something I would carefully consider if I did see those figures.)
I can’t think of any realistic cases where I would pay for extra people to be born.
For my part, I think that it’s healthy to have some parts of your life which you dedicate to doing what seems morally best, and some which you treat as personal, and that having kids should clearly be treated as personal (i.e. you shouldn’t agonise about whether it’s morally optimal). And I say that as someone who probably doesn’t want kids myself, a position that’s informed but not determined by ethical concerns.
To me, the decision (freely made) to have children is morally neutral—I am not utilitarian on this topic.
Birth rates usually fall substantially as female education levels rise and women become more empowered generally. I would be happier about the world if countries that currently have high birth rates see those birth rates fall thanks to better education levels etc. The sort of drastic fall in birth rates seen in, e.g., South Korea and Iran, are caused by large society-wide changes, and I don’t think it’s likely that as an outside donor I can do anything to help bring about similar society-wide change in, e.g., Nigeria.
But improved access to contraceptives and family planning information help at least some couples choose to have fewer children, and that is something that I would plausibly donate towards. (I don’t know what sort of cost-per-unwanted-birth-averted figure I’d need to prefer a donation to, say, Marie Stopes over a donation to SCI, but it’s something I would carefully consider if I did see those figures.)
I can’t think of any realistic cases where I would pay for extra people to be born.
Bernadette Young wrote a great post on this decision (as made by individual parents) here.
For my part, I think that it’s healthy to have some parts of your life which you dedicate to doing what seems morally best, and some which you treat as personal, and that having kids should clearly be treated as personal (i.e. you shouldn’t agonise about whether it’s morally optimal). And I say that as someone who probably doesn’t want kids myself, a position that’s informed but not determined by ethical concerns.