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India man to sue parents for giving birth to him

Accepted submission by Anonymous Coward at 2019-02-07 18:18:50
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A 27-year-old Indian man plans to sue his parents for giving birth to him without his consent. Mumbai businessman Raphael Samuel told the BBC that it's wrong to bring children into the world because they then have to put up with lifelong suffering. Mr Samuel, of course, understands that our consent can't be sought before we are born, but insists that "it was not our decision to be born". So as we didn't ask to be born, we should be paid for the rest of our lives to live, he argues.

Mr Samuel's belief is rooted in what's called anti-natalism - a philosophy that argues that life is so full of misery that people should stop procreating immediately. This, he says, would gradually phase out humanity from the Earth and that would also be so much better for the planet.
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In a statement, his mother Kavita Karnad Samuel explained her response to "the recent upheaval my son has created". "I must admire my son's temerity to want to take his parents to court knowing both of us are lawyers. And if Raphael could come up with a rational explanation as to how we could have sought his consent to be born, I will accept my fault," she said.

BBC:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47154287 [bbc.com]

Mr. Samuel's argument sounds a bit entitled but there are philosophical grounds in support of anti-natalism:
https://aeon.co/essays/having-children-is-not-life-affirming-its-immoral [aeon.co]


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