I agree that there is absolutely nothing a government or any institution can do to make people have kids if they don't want them.
Even banning abortion. I think demographic arguments are the worst arguments against abortion. What happens if your population increases? Is that the signal to legalize abortion?
If people don't want to spend their time raising children, they won't. They don't see the value of the sacrifices one needs to make to have a family. It's fine for someone else to populate the planet, they'd rather concentrate on their personal interests.
The only way to save Canada from demographic decline is to personally commit to have at least three children.
I realize that such a commitment could be tenuous and unfeasible for a number of reasons. First you have to find a good marriage partner, before you become infertile. Then you actually have to go through three pregnancies-- not an easy task. And of course, you have to actually raise the little youngin's, while providing them with food, clothing and shelter.
Nonetheless, it can be done.
Of course it's not enough to want to save Canada, one has to welcome children, and love them, and value the act of having and raising kids.
I think this is where pro-lifers have an advantage. And I think this could be key in creating a culture of life.
If pro-lifers have many children, generation after generation, eventually, the Culture of Life will prevail.
I know some scoff at the idea. After all, children don't always follow in their parents' footsteps.
That's true. But most children do. And even those kids who don't become pro-life will not be as pro-choice as the abortion lobby would like. Being raised in a pro-life family makes fetal rights normal to them.
The normalization of fetal rights is almost as important as their acceptance, if not more so.
The beauty of having kids to create the culture of life-- of using choice to fight choice, as it were-- is that we do not need anyone's permission or approval. With every form of activism, there is often opposition, resistance, sometimes even violence. Pro-lifers work very hard to stake their political and activist territory.
But none of this happens with child-bearing. If you want to have three kids and raise them pro-life, the pro-Choice lobby will absolutely support you in your choice. If you want even more, go at it!
Of course, it's much harder to raise children than to protest, sign petitions, email MP's, click "share" on Facebook and so forth.
What do you suppose will win the fight on abortion?
Do you suppose that winning the Culture of Life will be done from the comfort of your living room couch, or perhaps from episodic protests at the abortuary?
No. Fighting for what's right is back-breaking work. Most of the on-going pro-life activism in this country is performed by a small handful of individuals. Most pro-lifers fight abortion in a very ad hoc fashion, when time, effort and inclinations permit.
I don't want to sound ungrateful, because the efforts of pro-lifers today are far more than they were ten years ago, and I'm really happy more and more are getting engaged.
But this fight is not something that will be won with ease, of any kind. When you are part of a social movement that faces strong opposition, your efforts have to be at least as strong as the blowback, and probably a lot more.
Pro-lifers have not attained a critical mass to effectuate a large-scale legislative or societal change (although I think we're inching our way there.)
Until such time as we become the majority in the Parliament, and our voices become as common in our culture as those who support abortion, we might as well have lots of kids. Because it'll be far easier (and more attainable) to commit to raise at least three pro-life kids than pass a ban on abortion.
Now imagine if three generations of Canadian pro-lifers decided that they would all have at least three kids. And that the majority of them were raised and remained pro-life.
Canada's population would be renewed with our kids. Our children would be filling all the missing job vacancies. They would be the voters of tomorrow. Their worldview would become more common inside every field.
I suspect to some extent, I'm preaching to the converted, as pro-lifers tend to want to have kids anyway. But I don't think we really grasp the potential to do away with abortion by having kids. It's the most labour-intensive means of fighting abortion, but it's also the one that would probably bring the most fruit.
