# Right to breed?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-to-breed/17770>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [February 17, 2000, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-to-breed/17770 "2000-02-17T05:08:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2000, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-to-breed/17770/81 "2000-03-21T15:28:00Z")

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WON’T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!

{ahem}

Sorry.

First, I simply must re-quote this, because it made me snarf tea out my nose:

> [@](#):
>
> jane\_says wrote:
> 
> Where are the lawyers when you need them?
> 
> spoke- wrote:
> 
> [Rising from casket…]
> 
> You called?

There have been a few suggestions about parenting “classes,” pass/fail, etc.

Here’s a thought: You get your driver’s license, and it is assumed that you will be a good driver. Similarly, although you get no specific training or licensure, it is assumed that, if you have kids, you will be a good parent - after all, they’re your offspring. I don’t think that assumption is ill-based.

But after you’re driving for a while, you get into an accident. What do you have to do? Well, depending on the severity of the accident, you either pay a fine, have to go to traffic school, or lose your license. Similarly, if you are found to be an ill-equipped parent - which could endanger another life just as much as a car accident could - what happens? You might have to pay a fine, go to court, or go to jail, and the extreme is you might lose your kids altogether.

So what about parenting classes _after_ the benefit of the doubt of being a capable parent has been disproven? Even just taking the class would probaby improve one’s parenting skills. Or what about required family counseling? Would it be pass/fail, and what would the consequences of failure be - removal of the kids? A fine? Jail time?

I’m curious, too, as to what the laws on the books are now.

Esprix

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