Are You in Favor of Mentally Ill People Reproducing?

Question

Britney Spears said Wednesday she wants to get married and have another baby but her conservatorship forbids it — and requires her to take birth control against her will.  “I want to have the real deal. I want to be able to get married and have a baby. I was told right now under the conservatorship, I’m not able to get married or have a baby,” Spears, 39, told a Los Angeles Superior Court judge during an explosive court hearing about her “abusive” conservatorship.  “I have an IUD inside of myself right now so I don’t get pregnant. I wanted to take the IUD out so I could start trying to have another baby but this so-called team won’t let me go to the doctor to take it out because they don’t want me to have children.”

TheSpaceGnome · Accepted Answer

90% of humanity is mentally ill.

Why?

Alcohol, smoking, and other drugs.
Religion and other forms of assumptions.
A general lack of compassion.
Self destructive behavior in general.
Littering and pollution.
Sociopathy.
Poor comprehension skills.
Morals based on arbitrary things, lies, or assumptions.
Poor safety habits while wealthy.
Poor eating habits while wealthy.
Devaluing of hobbies, goals, luxuries, or other forms of self interest.
The list goes on.

People should be held to much higher standards. The sober overachiever with above average IQ and multiple talents is where I set the bar.

But the thing is only idiots think you can breed for intelligence.

You can have 2 druggy idiot parents who couldn't finish high-school give birth to a sober genius who does pi in his head, composes by ear, reads at college level, and paints from a photographic memory.

And then that genius could have kids with another genius, and they could all be severely retarded offspring.

Children are a random mix of genes from each parent, not clones of their parents, and the mixing can have drastic differences.

You cannot control the quality of the next generation by controlling the breeding habits of the current one, offspring outcome is a crap shoot of blind luck, most people are going to be dumb in every generation, and there is nothing you can do about it.

So no, I see no value whatsoever in controlling who can have kids.

ChrisMaster69 · Accepted Answer

Sounds a bit Black and White,

mental health issues (stop calling it an illness).

can be. Mild to major.

does this mean that every single person that has PTSD from Forces, Police, Nurses etc and rape survivors are now banned from having kids?

This could potentially be a way to sort gun control in the US,

basically people would stop having Kids there.

the number of young adults that go for counselling is scary, from exam stress to self harming, to abusive parents etc.

Dazed0N0Confused · Accepted Answer

It is a very personal decision to have children or not. Personally, i have a family history of schizophrenia (several members of my family have committed suicide because of the toll it brings) & bipolar disorder, as well as other health problems that are & aren't psychological disorders.
I'm making the conscious decision to not pass on the potential mental illnesses that have ended family members' lives & have made other's lose their minds, along with other physiological & neurological issues.

Vixxxen · Accepted Answer

The problem with putting restrictions on mentally ill people reproducing is that it is an extremely slippery slope. What qualifies as "mentally ill?" There are people on here that claim "all conservatives" or "all liberals" are mentally ill. As someone else said, Spears had one breakdown and now she's forever crazy? If you have ever sought out some type of psychotherapy are you mentally ill? So I'm more I'm favor of them being able too vs the alternative.

Roxi-2 · Answer

It’s so sad what’s happening to Britney, she’s not mentally ill; she has an abusive father and family that are literally practically having this woman as a slave and tbh it’s suspicious that she can’t get married or have kids? Wtf 😳
That’s such a breach on her human rights & I’m pretty sure people with mental disabilities and all that also aren’t permitted from having kids because that’s just not okay.
I hope Britney’s heard and freed, it’s sad how they took so much of her life away from her.

On_cloud_wine · Answer

She’s almost 40 years old. She had one mental breakdown (which is bound to happen to anyone) over a decade ago and she’s branded crazy for the rest of her life.

She never hurt anyone but herself. She’s playing hard and on a good path. Not letting her live her life the way she wants is only going to make her feel trapped and depressed. Only more reason to keep her drugged up like a zombie.

DeepThoughtday · Answer

define mentally ill? Because that term could mean anything from depression to sever psychosis (Yes i know i don't spell well I'm dyslexic I'm trying) I'm dyslexic arguably a mental illness should i be banned from having kids because of that? Your question is a huge blanket that allows for yes and no answers but if your a honest person its impossible to say yes or no because there are so many things under the mental health label from me as a dyslexic to someone who can't look after themselves. the most direct answer that could be realistically and honestly given would be it depends on the ability to look after children. you show Britney spears we know the newspaper reports but do any of us know her personally enough to know the reality?

Anonymous · Answer

If said person is in a state wear they can not handle taking care of a baby and should best be placed in a mental hospital for their own safety, then maybe it’s better that they do not have a baby. I do not think that they should be forced to take birth control because they are still people and deserve to be treated as such. Anyways, if someone is mentally ill chances are that they are cognitively well enough to still make that decision. And if it’s genetics people are worried about they probably wouldn’t be making such a big deal if the parent was a cancer survivor.

flowersintokyo · Answer

I think they should treat mental illness first. My answer has nothing to do with Brittany though, I'm not informed about her situation.
I was anorexic from 14 to 17 and self harmed, now I have no traces of those mental illnesses and I could raise children. But I dont want to RIGHT NOW

Jackblue · Answer

Spears is a bad example since she shouldn't be under a conservatorship in the first place. Interestingly enough she is not the only celebrity to be under one Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys and Amanda Bynes the host of the Amanda show which many millennials grew up on have endured conservatorships usually for nothing more than doing drugs. It seems, if a poor black man does drugs he goes to jail sweats it away and is free once his sentence ends, but if a rich white celebrity does so nowadays they end up being literally owned by their relatives. As for people who are actually disabled, only if it is someone completely incapable of functioning in society.

Anonymous · Answer

Depends on the level and how much the other parent can take over. A diagnosis alone is not enough to tell if people are capable of fostering a child and ill people should not have taken this right from them by others (especially not someone who benefits from your income xD).
In the case of Britney I don't think anyone who does not know her personally has enough information to tell if she can take care of a kid. Her true person seem to have been hiding from the world for more than a decade, I really hope she will get her life back and another child if that is her dream.

John_Doesnt · Answer

Yes, because mental illness covers a broad range of conditions and the government is typically dumb when it comes to medical conditions. The US is still a country with almost no mental health resources for the general public, so to punish the mentally ill because of the government's lack of care would be cruel. If the US wants people to have the "freedom" of no universal health care then they should provide "freedom" to the people who suffer from lack of health care.

Omario2049 · Answer

People who are actually mentally ill should be heavily sedated and locked away for their foreseeable future.
However we have too many short sighted low IQ citizens who would say someone is mentally ill just because they have a difference in opinion. Like for example, democrats would say Trump voters are mentally ill and republicans would say Biden voters or even the whole damn left is mental. Christians think anyone who doesn't believe in their God is crazy and liberals think all religious people are mental. So until people just grow the fuck up before criticizing others I'll reserve judgement.

MrOracle · Answer

Britney's mental health issues aren't that severe - most of it came from the incredible pressures she was under since childhood. The conservatorship should have never been made permanent - her father used her money to hire lawyers to ensure that he could be in control of her fortune and continue to enrich himself. He should be in prison and Britney should be managing her own life.

Seinna · Answer

If they're healthy/able enough to take care of the child themselves then yes and nobody should dare stop them. Even if they know they have hereditary diseases... yes the noble thing would be not to, and maybe adopt but it's up to the person and their conscience.

kidvid80 · Answer

its not our place to judge, tons of people are mentally ill but amazing parents. it amazes that brittany spears seems to be the poster child of that? though not a fan of her music, no one ever thinks what she went through as a kid to get to where she is and what went on? you never know what someones been through in life, unless you were there with them. she's an adult and unless she is of harm to herself and others its not my place to say yay or nay

Eelephant · Answer

Poor brittany. I think this conservatorship is insane. And she probably wouldn't be "mentally ill" if she wasn't so famous. The shit she's gone through (paparazzi, the media and the whole would attacking you) it's just insane. I'm sending her prayers that the conservatorship situation will workout in her favor.

anon1903 · Answer

I don't think so cuz handling kids is hard for normal parents, let alone the ones with issues. Studies show that some disorders can be passed on, while the ones which are not - their children suffer with depressive environment at home, which is unhealthy.

jshm2 · Answer

Everyone has episodes in their life, and there is a world of difference between illness and disabled.

A lot of Britney's episodes are likely down to her fathers abusive control of her. Rather than her actually being ill.

As for your assertion. It depends if we're talking hereditary conditions or disability.

purplepoppy · Answer

It depends on the type of mental illness and whether or not it puts the child at risk. There's plenty of regular people out there I wouldn't trust with a dig let alone a kid n

FilmGuy93 · Answer

Generally speaking, I'm not in favor of that, no. I will say that it really seems like Britney just got tired of being exploited one day, so she snapped. I'm not sure how crazy she actually is. I've had people try to force their bullshit onto me in my own media career, and it really makes you want to do insane stuff. Even if just to blow off some steam.

canucker90 · Answer

If someone is not mentally fit to take care of their own life, they should put aside marriage and having kids in the meantime. I think it's selfish to have sex just for pleasure without any protection, have a child and then not love that child properly. Until they change their life spiritually, mentally, physically, morally and etc. It's probably not the best idea. I say that because it's added stress and it's best to avoid having a child.

Makeushiver · Answer

I don't think I should have an opinion on who should reproduce or not. First world white westerners are destroying the planet so humility is often called for in judgments. The average household in the Central African Republic uses the same amount of electricity in a year as the average American uses just charging their ELE ironic devices.

Anonymous · Answer

Whatever this "conservatorship" shit is, it sounds like cruel and unusual punishment. Then again, maybe I am missing a lot of context. However, the ONLY time I believe anyone should be denied the basic human right of having a child is if they are a rapist/other type of sexual predator. It is against the law to discriminate against someone based on disability. Spears is capable of discerning reality from fantasy, which means she is more than capable of controlling her own affairs.

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