Why the Billboard Telling People to Stop Having Kids is Problematic

It’s not just because of the side of town where it’s featured

Photo by Zachary Kadolph on Unsplash

There’s a billboard on Lombard Street, about a mile east of MLK, Jr. Blvd, on the Northeast side of town. It has an cartoon drawing of a baby in a diaper, a circle around it, and a diagonal bar through the circle. It reads, in big, white letters on an all-black background:

STOP HAVING KIDS

I drove past it one day and thought to myself, “Huh. That’s problematic.”

I wasn’t sure why. It unsettled me. Next time I drove past it, I looked more closely and saw that it was sponsored by StopHavingKids.org.

I went to the page

In honesty, I didn’t spend a lot of time there. There are lots of words, lots of links, and lots of explanation. The gist of the page? Also in big, white letters?

THERE IS AN UNCONSCIONABLE AMOUNT OF NEEDLESS SUFFERING AND DEATH IN THE WORLD. BIRTH SERVES AS THE CATALYST FOR IT ALL.

At the outset, I find it a sentiment hard to argue against. The first part. The amount of needless suffering and death in the world is unconscionable. No doubt about it. A lot of that is human. If humans weren’t born, they couldn’t suffer. Neither…