How would we separate conception from sex? Why would we do it? And what would the effects on society be? Who would win? Who would lose? And most importantly what would it take for a nation to embrace this?
How would we separate sex and conception?
It really isn't difficult in theory. Putting theory to practice is not going to be easy.
Theory: All male citizens over a certain age, say 14, deposit an adequate sample of their genetic material in a national repository. Afterwards they receive a vasectomy. They may retrieve their sperm in order to conceive a child under a set procedure that ensures that the woman consents to the pregnancy, that the child will have at least two adults to care for it, that the custodial adults have sufficient income to support the child and that the custodial adults have been evaluated and counselled on their legal responsibilities.
Practice: Well, that would be interesting to enforce wouldn't it?
Why would we do it?
I'll start the list and anyone who cares to can add to it.
Unwanted pregnancies vanish, as do the associated social and economic costs. I wish I had statistics for these costs.
Abortion is extremely rare and occurs only for reasons of the mother's health or fatal fetal defects.
Women gain great social and economic benefits. No longer would we have teen mothers. Women will have every chance to decide exactly when, if at all, they should have children.
Immigration would decline when the puishment for being an illegal male immigrant would be deportation or vasectomy.
What would the effects on society be?
Hard to say. The birth rate would fall since pregnancy through biological accident would no longer occur. The crime rate should fall as well. There will likely be a temporary spike in STDs. Pharma companies will be out a chunk of revenue since they will no longer be providing chemical birth control to women. A pill a day for how many millions of women? Condom use will go up. Sex education can concentrate on SEX and protecting against STDs. The anti abortion movement will be hunting for a new cause. Prenatal care will improve and maternal and fetal mortality rates will decline.
Who would win? Women, men and children are all winners.
Who would lose? The pharma industry would lose a reliable source of income.
What would it take for a nation to embrace this?
A lot, a whole heckuva lot! We'd have to reassure men that their genetic deposit is safe and can be retrieved at will and only by them. DNA from these deposits can not be used as evidence in any crime other than a sex crime. We'd have to sweeten the pot - outlawing abortion except to protect the health of the mother, making federally funded healthcare available to all mothers and children. Universal healthcare to all would also work. Give every woman one federally funded college scholarship to give to any one of her children. This ensures that at least one child in every 'family' has the opportunity to go to college.
The income requirements would have to be minimal. The income requirement could also be met by a third party setting up a trust fund for the child. This would allow impatient parents to become grandparents by funding their grandchildren. Religious and other organizations could also create trustfunds for couples below the income thresh hold.
Custodial parents need not be married or a male/female couple. Certainly the biological parents need to be male and female, but the custodial parents do not need to be.
No man may be denied retrieval because of evaluation results. The evaluation and counseling is meant to give a couple an objective perspective on their ability to take on parental responsiblities. It is quite likely that charitable groups that create conception trustfunds will use evaluations to determine who will be awarded a trustfund. Evaluations may also be used to target at risk families so they can be tracked and given assistance by government agencies.