Population 8 Billion

I've listened to episode 2 about pronatalism and there's a lot of context that's ignored here. First, there's the argument that pronatalism isn't universal, therefore it's not for the large majority of people. There's a growing phenomenon of women (mainly in the US) when they hit 30 years old that they realize that the societal pressures that told them to delay everything related to having a family has made them miserable and they actually do want marriage and children. Yes, there are men and women in history who were not parents and accomplished great things. However, most of us are refined into better people by serving our families because they drive us to be better. Now a counterpoint that the guest speaker brought up is that there are many developed countries where women and girls are forced into marriages and childbirth at young ages. I fully agree that this should not be the case. To correct this problem, focus should be placed on bettering the education of both young men and women so they have more opportunity to provide for themselves economically instead of both needing to enter young marriages to survive (granted I don't know what percentage of the marriages of young girls is to boys their age or to adult men). There's the point that many developed countries are 'banning reproductive services'. Yes, many countries are restricting abortions and related drugs specifically because they have realized the immortality of killing unborn children and the fact that these procedures pose significant health risks to the mother and negatively impact her fertility should she want a child later on. The way to do this is to place a cultural focus on not having sex unless one is married (and this goes very much for men and women). There is a fair amount of pronatalism in encouraging people to have children within the culture at large and governmental policies. However, there is also the large push to only have a small number of children from the general culture. Complete strangers have told me something along the lines that I had better hope that I don't have more than my current two children and this is a strong sentiment I encounter in daily life. Also, there is the push to not think about having kids until one is in his or her 30s and well into a career. I fully agree that it will be difficult for governments to encourage people to have kids because this is not something that can be so easily changed by a few policy changes. Finally, to address the criticisms of the Catholic Church's ban on contraception. The purpose of marriage is to both unite the couple and for procreation because this is the most natural result of the marital union. To use contraception in a marriage is to say 'I am totally yours, but not actually, I don't give you my fertility'. Not every marital act has to result in a child. But the point is to be open to the gift of life because to deny this is to primarily seek the pleasure of self and not be willing to sacrifice your life for another. Again, this goes for both man and woman as in purposefully remaining sterile they seek to please their own wants and desires throughout their lives. To wrap up, there are both interesting and misleading points that are talked about within the episode that misses the mark as to the changing tides surrounding how many countries around the world see children. It was good to listen to to get a different perspective.