I agree that contraceptives could increase wild-animal suffering in the short run. The challenge I’ve run into is how to balance the increase in short term wild-animal suffering against the rights of people to plan their pregnancies, as well as considerations around farm animal suffering. I feel a lot of uncertainty around this, and not sure we can definitively answer that question without having a better understanding of how much insects and other wild animals suffer.
I think what tips the balance for me is that I have the intuition that preventing unwanted pregnancies may increase world stability in the long run, which could lead to better outcomes in the future, since we’ll have the luxury to be able to tackle stuff like wild animal suffering.
There is some evidence from a study in Europe that suggests that unwanted children have greater proneness to social problems and criminal activity. Another much more speculative consideration is whether there could be future conflicts related to resources such as water tables and topsoil being depleted around the world, depending if technology to produce food continues to keep up with the increasing demand for food.
In summary, I feel uncertain if contraceptives are a net positive or negative from a utilitarian point of view, but I do feel from a human rights point of view, that every pregnancy should be wanted.
People also have a right not to die, so perhaps one could claim that AMF is as good for human rights as family planning?
As far as future stability, it’s plausible that family planning beats AMF, both because of resource shortages and because of the unwanted-children thing you mention. Of course, while future stability has many upsides, it also makes it more likely that (post-)humanity will spread suffering throughout the cosmos.
I agree that contraceptives could increase wild-animal suffering in the short run. The challenge I’ve run into is how to balance the increase in short term wild-animal suffering against the rights of people to plan their pregnancies, as well as considerations around farm animal suffering. I feel a lot of uncertainty around this, and not sure we can definitively answer that question without having a better understanding of how much insects and other wild animals suffer.
I think what tips the balance for me is that I have the intuition that preventing unwanted pregnancies may increase world stability in the long run, which could lead to better outcomes in the future, since we’ll have the luxury to be able to tackle stuff like wild animal suffering.
There is some evidence from a study in Europe that suggests that unwanted children have greater proneness to social problems and criminal activity. Another much more speculative consideration is whether there could be future conflicts related to resources such as water tables and topsoil being depleted around the world, depending if technology to produce food continues to keep up with the increasing demand for food.
In summary, I feel uncertain if contraceptives are a net positive or negative from a utilitarian point of view, but I do feel from a human rights point of view, that every pregnancy should be wanted.
Thanks for the reply. :)
People also have a right not to die, so perhaps one could claim that AMF is as good for human rights as family planning?
As far as future stability, it’s plausible that family planning beats AMF, both because of resource shortages and because of the unwanted-children thing you mention. Of course, while future stability has many upsides, it also makes it more likely that (post-)humanity will spread suffering throughout the cosmos.
Absolutely yes, Against Malaria Foundation is very good from a human rights point of view :)