On Choices

My friend and I were discussing babies and how cute they are. As with most random discussions, our topic suddenly segued toward a sort of debate on the morality of raising a child as a single parent. Morality maybe a strong word that has wider implication than is intended here; what we were really arguing about is if it is indeed selfish for a woman to undergo artificial insemination when she doesn’t have a husband or partner to raise the child with. I said it depends, whereas my friend said it is selfish. Well, it’s a tricky subject. Of course, it depends on a lot of things and circumstances really have a lot to do with it. On a strictly theoretical sense, I can concur that the motivation may indeed be selfish because obviously it’s the would-be mother’s choice. The child wouldn’t have any say on it. But if someone is financially capable and emotionally suitable to bring forth a child in this world, and she wants to love and raise another human being who will enjoy all of what life can offer, then I say what’s wrong with that? Oh, well, to each his own and I do believe we both have a point, or even points.

People will always have different views about building families and raising children. Even in families with both mother and father, many couples observe family planning and some even opt for drastic measures like surgical treatments such as vasectomy or tubal ligation. Some parents want to keep their family small while others want to have as many children as they can. The thing is, even if the father has undergone vasectomy in life and then change his mind in the future about the rearing of more children, he has the option to undergo vasectomy reversal. Family planning is sometimes mandated by law in some countries so the practice really differs in different socities and cultures. What we have to realize and remember here, though, is that life is beautiful and every child born into this world is too.