Argumentative Essay Sample: Should Parents Get A License?
Do you wish to have a child one day? How would you feel if you had to get a license to be able to have a child?
People should not have to get a license to become parents. First of all, the government shouldn’t be able to control what you do with your own body. The Founding Fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence which one line states: “they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." This quote means you have the right to choose what you want to do with your life, as long as it doesn’t break the law. Not only that, but we don’t want to have a repeat of China’s “One Child Policy.” The “One Child Policy” was a policy the Chinese government enforced on their citizens in hopes to stabilize China’s rapidly growing population by limiting people to only one child. An article written by Ayushi Singh Ahluwalia, an author of Geopolitics, explains women’s struggles with the One-Child Policy. One paragraph from the article states that “The physical and mental well-being, along with reproductive autonomy, of women took a backseat. In 1983, about 20 million babies were born while more than 14 million fetuses were aborted, over 16 million females underwent sterilizations and over 17 million intrauterine device insertions were performed.” On the same subject of sterilization, this same thing happened in Nazi Germany. An article titled “Nazi Racial Science,” explains the program. “Nazi Germany carried out a campaign to “cleanse” Germany society of individuals viewed as biological threats to the nation’s “health.”” This campaign ended up sterilizing over 400,000 people and euthanizing 275,000 people, all because they were categorized as a “national threat.”
Secondly, how do the tests work, and who administers them? When taking the test, there is no way to tell if someone is going to be genuinely loving and caring towards a child. Unless there has been a history of bad behavior from the person, there’s no true way of telling if they’re fit to be a parent. Another problem with testing is the risk of racism/prejudice. The person monitoring the test could accept all white people while denying all other races that try to get a license. Honesty is another huge factor when it comes to taking these tests. How are you going to be able to tell if people are being honest? There are plenty of people that are dishonest on their resumes, for example. According to the Indeed Editorial Team, it is estimated that approximately 40% of people lie on their resumes, and about 3 out of 4 people are caught lying by their employers.
Lastly, a license doesn’t guarantee anything. Take gun licenses for example. It was estimated that there were 12 mass shootings in 2018, that being 8 more than in 2014. Another license you could take for example would be a fishing license. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the world’s authority on fisheries, 34.2% of fisheries are overfished. Hunting licenses are also required of people who want to hunt. Although these are in place, there are approximately 1,300 animals classified as endangered.
I agree on how putting a license in place may put a stop to abusive parenting, but as I said before, there really is no way of telling if people are being honest with you. And even if there is a license put into place, there’s no guarantee that it’s going to stop the abuse.
In conclusion, people should not have to be required to get a license to become a parent. It’s infringing on your rights, honesty is no guarantee, and licenses are not a fool-proof way of ensuring people will do the right thing. Each person should decide for themselves on whether or not to be a parent based on their own moral values.
