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Comment by galkk | Hacker News Reader

> I heard an interesting idea the other day: give all males a vasectomy (or some form of long-term birth control) at the age of 14. The purpose is to make having children a conscious decision instead of a "whoops!" and put downward pressure on the overall population.

Wtf did I just read?

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I've heard this suggested seriously in a number of places lately. (Often in response to the recent abortion bans - there's a "Men cause 100% of unintended pregnancies!" meme going around.) Don't necessarily agree with it, just like I don't agree with the abortion bans, but be aware that there is a sizable contingent of people who seriously want this to happen.

Is it really serious, or is it just counter-trolling?

I think it started as counter-trolling, and then a bunch of people were like "Wait, that's actually a pretty good idea." Which is the danger of trolling in the first place...you might dredge up some idea that's better left alone.

"Trolling is a art" afterall.

I suspect it's what you are characterizing as "counter-trolling*, but with intent to make a point: Pregnancy isn't something women do by themselves. There's going to be a man involved.

Historically, we have generally tried to hold both parties responsible. Women were expected to refuse to put out until marriage. If you got a girl "in trouble," shot gun weddings were a thing.

But men were generally expect to earn the primary income and women were expected to primarily care for the family and maybe supplement the income. With people generally having fewer kids on average and women more often expecting real careers with status, income and job satisfaction, things have gotten vastly more complicated and "you two need to just get hitched" is not sitting well with most folks.

(There's a lot I'm leaving out. This isn't intended to be comprehensive, just a thumbnail sketch.)

>Pregnancy isn't something women do by themselves. There's going to be a man involved.

Plenty of women use sperm banks...

This is very much the exception and yes, a man is involved, but the transaction is 100% voluntary on the part of the woman without any specific intent towards that specific woman on the part of the man.

Use of sperm banks and unintended, accidental pregnancy are pretty much mutually exclusive.

I'm suggesting it seriously. Our planet is already butting heads with climate disaster, and one of the more obvious problems is the sheer number of people on the planet that are creating byproducts and waste.

Given finite resources, you cannot have infinite population. So you can either restrict population growth or let it balloon out of control and deal with much worse consequences. It's not a matter of personal liberties, it's a matter of resource management. And without effective resource management, there is no personal liberty.

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