# The human race nears extinction--is forcing a woman to give birth acceptable? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 2, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-human-race-nears-extinction-is-forcing-a-woman-to-give-birth-acceptable/508671 "2009-09-02T20:01:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-human-race-nears-extinction-is-forcing-a-woman-to-give-birth-acceptable/508671/81 "2009-09-02T23:54:35Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > That which is lost can be regained. Not our honor! And if you’re so into the circle of life, then who needs humanity? If we can’t survive without resorting to systematic rape then we should just die off and make room for another species to evolve up that _doesn’t_ need to rape to live, which would be just as good as having humanity, only better! That which is lost can be regained, right? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-human-race-nears-extinction-is-forcing-a-woman-to-give-birth-acceptable/508671/82 "2009-09-02T23:55:23Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > Because we as a species think it is and that’s all the reason we need. Well, let’s just say that we as a species are not unanimous in that reasoning. Ending lives is bad, _not bothering to continue to create new ones_ is pretty neutral, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-human-race-nears-extinction-is-forcing-a-woman-to-give-birth-acceptable/508671/83 "2009-09-02T23:55:36Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > If humanity is making a policy of forcibly impregnating women, then humanity is no longer a beacon of light. It would instead be a beacon of rape. If it’s for instance artificial insemination it won’t be rape. Satisfied? > [@Marley23](#): > > But if there’s going to be one, isn’t it a guarantee that humanity is going to last that long? It’s the day of humanity’s judgment and it’s ordained in some way, so how would humanity fail to exist until the appointed time? This problem usually crops up with this kind of worldview - ‘God is all-powerful and good will triumph, but we’re still in danger’ - but I haven’t heard this particular version before. I just want the world to exist as long as possible and delay the Apocalypse. After all by your logic why not just nuke the world over right now? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-human-race-nears-extinction-is-forcing-a-woman-to-give-birth-acceptable/508671/84 "2009-09-02T23:57:43Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > If it’s for instance artificial insemination it won’t be rape. Satisfied? Oh, great, forced artificial insemination. Way better than rape! ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-human-race-nears-extinction-is-forcing-a-woman-to-give-birth-acceptable/508671/85 "2009-09-02T23:58:46Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > If it’s for instance artificial insemination it won’t be rape. Satisfied? No. > [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > I just want the world to exist as long as possible and delay the Apocalypse. After all by your logic why not just nuke the world over right now? Because it would kill people. Notably, with lots of pain and suffering, which is probably a lot more important than the actual ending of life. Now ask me why what would be wrong with having everybody painlessly die all at once, instantly, simultaneously, with no awareness that it was coming, no time to fear, and no chance to regret or be regretted. Go on. Ask me. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-human-race-nears-extinction-is-forcing-a-woman-to-give-birth-acceptable/508671/86 "2009-09-03T00:01:15Z")
Insemination would be less traumatic for some women then sex. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-human-race-nears-extinction-is-forcing-a-woman-to-give-birth-acceptable/508671/87 "2009-09-03T00:03:05Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > Insemination would be less traumatic for some women then sex. How? You’re still forcing something into the body, with the added insult that the goal is for pregnancy to result. If anything, that’s worse. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-human-race-nears-extinction-is-forcing-a-woman-to-give-birth-acceptable/508671/88 "2009-09-03T00:04:04Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > Insemination would be less . And being raped would be lest traumatic for some women then being slowly fed feet-first into a meat grinder. What’s your point? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-human-race-nears-extinction-is-forcing-a-woman-to-give-birth-acceptable/508671/89 "2009-09-03T00:05:45Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > I just want the world to exist as long as possible and delay the Apocalypse. After all by your logic why not just nuke the world over right now? Maybe Marley just likes it the way it is at the moment? Just a guess. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-human-race-nears-extinction-is-forcing-a-woman-to-give-birth-acceptable/508671/90 "2009-09-03T00:08:01Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Maybe Marley just likes it the way it is at the moment? Just a guess. Which is exactly why I don’t want an apocalypse right now. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-human-race-nears-extinction-is-forcing-a-woman-to-give-birth-acceptable/508671/91 "2009-09-03T00:09:29Z")
> [@Polerius](#): > > Under this situation, of course so many people would rather have the whole human race disappear, or have some other global calamity happen, rather than force a single woman to keep a baby she does not want. If it’s a question of a single pregnant woman, then forcing her to carry the pregnancy to term only serves to delay the disappearance of the whole human race by at most 100 odd years – and for the tail end of that, the “human race” will really be “the human”. Even if one in general believes that the ends justified the means, I don’t see what good would be accomplished by forcing an unwilling woman to carry the pregnancy to term in this situation. You get one more baby who at best gets to watch the rest of humanity die and spend his or her remaining years the sole survivor of an otherwise extinct race. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-human-race-nears-extinction-is-forcing-a-woman-to-give-birth-acceptable/508671/92 "2009-09-03T00:10:06Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > Which is exactly why I don’t want an apocalypse right now. OK, but I’m missing how you think nuking the whole world is a logical extension of anything anyone has said in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-human-race-nears-extinction-is-forcing-a-woman-to-give-birth-acceptable/508671/93 "2009-09-03T00:11:00Z")
> [@Polerius](#): > > US society (at least parts of it, certainly well-represented on this board) has so demonized lack of choice in abortion that it is considered the worst thing anyone could ever do in the universe, ever! > > Under this situation, of course so many people would rather have the whole human race disappear, or have some other global calamity happen, rather than force a single woman to keep a baby she does not want. Hey, why does it even have to be a woman? Some girls hit puberty at 9 or 10. What if one of them is the lucky soul with the fertility gene? ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-human-race-nears-extinction-is-forcing-a-woman-to-give-birth-acceptable/508671/94 "2009-09-03T00:16:10Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > OK, but I’m missing how you think nuking the whole world is a logical extension of anything anyone has said in this thread. Because of this: > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Marley23 View Post > But if there’s going to be one, isn’t it a guarantee that humanity is going to last that long? It’s the day of humanity’s judgment and it’s ordained in some way, so how would humanity fail to exist until the appointed time? This problem usually crops up with this kind of worldview - ‘God is all-powerful and good will triumph, but we’re still in danger’ - but I haven’t heard this particular version before. **I just want the world to exist as long as possible and delay the Apocalypse. After all by your logic why not just nuke the world over right now?** ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-human-race-nears-extinction-is-forcing-a-woman-to-give-birth-acceptable/508671/95 "2009-09-03T00:17:11Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > Which is exactly why I don’t want an apocalypse right now. You do realize that according to you, by the time the apocalypse happens there by definition won’t be anyone left alive to mind it, right? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-human-race-nears-extinction-is-forcing-a-woman-to-give-birth-acceptable/508671/96 "2009-09-03T00:20:28Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > Because of this: > > > [@Marley23](#): > > > > But if there’s going to be one, isn’t it a guarantee that humanity is going to last that long? It’s the day of humanity’s judgment and it’s ordained in some way, so how would humanity fail to exist until the appointed time? This problem usually crops up with this kind of worldview - ‘God is all-powerful and good will triumph, but we’re still in danger’ - but I haven’t heard this particular version before. > > **I just want the world to exist as long as possible and delay the Apocalypse. After all by your logic why not just nuke the world over right now?** I’m still just not seeing how you make the connection, at all. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-human-race-nears-extinction-is-forcing-a-woman-to-give-birth-acceptable/508671/97 "2009-09-03T00:20:34Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > You do realize that according to you, by the time the apocalypse happens there by definition won’t be anyone left alive to mind it, right? Yes but we might be able to stop it before it happens. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-human-race-nears-extinction-is-forcing-a-woman-to-give-birth-acceptable/508671/98 "2009-09-03T00:21:24Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > We are talking about a society that behaves like war criminals. Raping women over and over until they get pregnant, then forcing them to bear the results of that rape. And you can guarantee that there will be a great deal of other abuse mixed in. It wasn’t when I brought the issue up, but so be it. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-human-race-nears-extinction-is-forcing-a-woman-to-give-birth-acceptable/508671/99 "2009-09-03T00:21:58Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > Yes but we might be able to stop it before it happens. Why bother though? By the time it happens, we’ll all be dead. Nobody will care. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-human-race-nears-extinction-is-forcing-a-woman-to-give-birth-acceptable/508671/100 "2009-09-03T00:26:15Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > Not our honor! honor shmonor. Honor means jack shit after we’re all dead. If we were living in a post pregnancy scare society, we’d all look back with disgust of all the horrible things we as a species had to do. But I bet most of us wouldn’t think OMG we lost our honor let’s end it all. Most of us would be thankful we live in better times. > [@Der Trihs](#): > > Apparently we have a society where the men want to reproduce but the women don’t. Basically a hypothetical that assumes women all suddenly start acting quite differently than they ever have. What if it were some kind of neurological disease (virus or something) that makes women react extremely negatively, even violently, to the thought of getting pregnant. Interesting premise for a science fiction novel. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-human-race-nears-extinction-is-forcing-a-woman-to-give-birth-acceptable/508671.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-human-race-nears-extinction-is-forcing-a-woman-to-give-birth-acceptable/508671.md?page=6)