Wanted by the Fertility Police

Crisis Magazine ^ | Mary Walsh

[mafree]

Nice article- bump from one of four, wish it had been more.

[Brian Kopp DPM]

No deal. You have 'em; you pay for 'em.

Ah, there's the rub, eh?

I know dozens of big Catholic families. NONE of them accept government assistance in any way. But we're still going to have to pay for your retirement benefits and Medicare, regardless of you "taking matters into your own hands." Bit of a double standard. We pay, you collect. You whine, we don't collect.

[steve-b]

But we're still going to have to pay for your retirement benefits and Medicare, regardless of you "taking matters into your own hands."

I take it English is not your first language. This is an obvious contradiction in terms.

[goodform]

Father of 4 and open to more ping!! :-)

[Brian Kopp DPM]

Neither is reasoning your strong point. I have thousands of retired patients who do not need their social security checks. Not one has sent a check back to the government with a note saying, "Kind sirs, my personal investments have made it unnecessary to use this check. Please put it back in America's treasury."

The retirement population will become the single greatest voting block in America with the coming population pyramid inversion. You would be delusional to propose that this voting block will allow Social Security and Medicare funding to go bankrupt.

No, you will cash that check, paid for by my children's labor, and have no remorse. No more than your pathetic bigotry towards large families today.

[mamaduck]

bump for insane, children-loving families

[el_chupacabra]

A big bump here for NFP. My wife and I looked into NFP as newlyweds after learning the very real and unpublicized abortificient effects of "the pill" and other popular contraceptive methods.

NFP helped us avoid pregnancy early on, but the true value of it was revealed when we first tried to conceive. We suffered and grieved horribly through losing two children through miscarriage. Fortunately, with the science we learned through NFP and the library of charting data we saved, our pro-life physician was able to quickly identify the issue we were confronted with.

I am proud to say we will be expecting our newest daughter to join us in two weeks -- and are hopeful that we will be blessed with many more.

Because of the way NFP has changed our thinking, and our lives, we are planning on becoming a teaching couple next year.

I'd encourage anyone who considers themselves pro-life but who uses alternative contraceptive methods to research the abortificient effects of those methods and consider NFP.

[steve-b]

Your comments about "bigotry" are a classic case of projection.

(Oh, and I assume that you have given back all the money you got from the rest of the taxpayers through your special deductions?)

[RnMomof7]

No Such Thing As Too Many

Amen to that ..

When I first saw the title of the Post I thought they were looking for me:>)

God is faithful to provide for every child that comes from his hand..in Psalms we read "I have been young,but now am old,but I have not seen the righteous forsaken nor Hhis seed begging bread"

God always provided for our family of 7..

Five are college grads and one career military

I got looks and comments..I just smiled and had one more*grin*

Some years ago at a pro-life rally the speaker asked all the "planned" pregnancies to raise their hands..I told my kids to keep their hands down..God planned them I didnt *grin*

[soccermom]

Hee hee! My favorite scene from Cheaper By the Dozen is when the local planned parenthood lady comes by to solicit Mrs. Gilbraith's support and they humor her for a while before introducing her to all their kids. Bump from 1 of 7!

[soccermom]

You sound just like me! We have a 9, 7 and 4 -- all boys. I had hoped to have at least one more by now. And we don't use any artificial means of birth control. Ironically, one of my Catholic friends who does use birth control (I'm a practicing Catholic) has 5 -- the last 2 unplanned. You have beautiful kids BTW!

[Alkhin]

I LOVE big families...I simply abstain because I don't think I could handle more than the precious one I have. seriously. I am very envious of women who have more than two and think how lucky they are...and how accomplished they are because the management and mother-ness needed is something beyond my comprehension.

As it is (the way I have been fixed up...LONG story) I will be lucky to have another one...

And don't quote adoption to me...thats another sticky issue for me (I myself am adopted.)

[RnMomof7]

I simply abstain because I don't think I could handle more than the precious one I have

Someone with two children asked me once how "I did it"?

I told her the secret that every mother of a large family knows..the first 2 are "the work" by the time you get to 3 they raise each other..

Our pastor has 5 girls,I loved watching his wife bond the girls..each of the "older" ones had a younger one "help" with

I have 5 boys and two girls..the girls are ten years apart...but as adults they are very close

The secret? My oldest daught tells me she feels like "mom" to the younger one..she changed diapers,taught her color and to count.

I really beieve a large family is easier to raise,because they are less self centered and demanding..sharing isnt an option it is a necessity.....We had 9 people in out home when the kids were young and 1 batheroom..you learn patience and considerstion very quickly *grin*

[Brian Kopp DPM]

(Oh, and I assume that you have given back all the money you got from the rest of the taxpayers through your special deductions?)

Any money I get back by deductions was money I paid in. It does not come from "the rest of the taxpayers."

Social Security and Medicare do, however, come from "the rest of the taxpayers."

And what you term "projection, " I term "calling a spade a spade."

[dpwiener]

You would be delusional to propose that this voting block will allow Social Security and Medicare funding to go bankrupt.

Social Security is a classic Ponzi scheme. When it was first instituted the elderly and others close to retirement got back far more than they paid in. After many decades of transferring wealth from younger generations to older generations, that's no longer the case. Now virtually everyone who retires and receives Social Security is far worse off than if they'd been able to invest their money privately instead of having it taxed away. Sooner or later Social Security will either go bankrupt or have to be drastically modified to reduce/delay benefits. Any rational person who can do simple arithmetic will not expect Social Security to be there (at least in anything resembling its current form) for his or her retirement 20 or 30 years from now. So don't try to rationalize large families who get taxpayer-financed benefits by pretending that they'll pay it back via Social Security.

I do count myself in the Julian Simon economic camp that believes more human beings are a net benefit for a free-market society, in that they grow the entire economic pie. More hands and brains and technological progress historically do not use up natural resources, they generate more useable resources. Contrary to Malthus, overpopulation is not an inevitable long-range problem. Indeed, the more advanced the society, the more that population tends to stabilize or even decline due to individual choices (i.e., more parents find it advantageous to concentrate their personal time and resources on just a few childeren).

That's why I say I have no problem with people who choose large families. It's not my personal preference, but this is supposed to be a free society. There are advantages and disadvantages to large families, and the overall impact of a somewhat higher population growth rate is more likely to be beneficial rather than harmful.

So have a large family because you enjoy a large family or because you believe that's an important value and if you can afford a large family. Just don't have your large family at my expense, or make me subsidize your preference. If I save money by having fewer kids, that's my money, not yours to take (via government taxation) so you can afford to have more kids. As long as we respect each others' rights and free choices, we can all get along.

[steve-b]

Precisely. My initial irritation with the "have all the kids you want -- God will provide" statement is based on the knowledge that, when irresponsible people download kids they can't afford, the one stuck with the bill ain't God.

[Harrison Bergeron]

"The fertility police can be either well-meaning or downright rude."

Or even HATEFUL.

[WIladyconservative]

There's a family in our neighborhood who has 13 children - yes, that's not a typo - THIRTEEN (ages 21 to 1). Personally, I could never do it - I had a ton of trouble holding ONE pregnancy.

Mom seems happy, Dad is gainfully employed, and the kids are, for the most part, GREAT kids. I feel it's none of my business how many kids people have (as long as they aren't on the public dole). Live and let live, in this case.

[JenOPCer]

We have five (in seven years). When I was expecting my 5th, I was in the grocery store. The cashier's eyes got wide when she saw my four little ones and realized I was having another. She said, "Don't you know what causes that?"

I think I would have said, "Yes, but I'm not sure what causes rudeness."

[Brian Kopp DPM]

I keep hearing all these comments about large Christian families getting taxpayer funded benefits.

Please illustrate.

I see welfare families getting taxpayer funded benefits.

I see large Christian families getting not a dime.

Furthermore, I see large Christian homeschooling families paying school taxes but using no public school resources.

As far as I'm concerned, I see large Christian families being good for the economy, and not being a drag on the tax base.

Can someone illustrate this "don't expect the government to raise 'em" mentality among the subgroup of large families we are discussing here, i.e., families that are open to life and more children because of moral/religious convictions (not because each new kid means more for some welfare queen's SSI check.)?

If not, quit bringing up the whole issue of government funding of these particular large families.