Reproduction is a biological drive

Having a child is not a matter of rational consideration. As a biological drive present in all species, it is innate and instinctive. Therefore, discussing the ethics of childbearing is pointless. Some argue that there is a biological clock in women that generates a deep drive to have a child. Such a drive is not solely a desire but a biological force. In evolutionary terms, our very constitution determines that we bear children. This phenomenon of physical and emotional longing to have a child is sometimes called “baby fever”.^[1] Biologist Lonnie Aarssen considers this biological drive as a non-gendered “parenting drive”. According to him, all people have an explicit desire to have children in the future.^[2] There is scientific research to support the existence of baby fever. Researchers from Kansas State University concluded that baby fever did exist in both genders. According to Garry Brase, one of the researchers, having children is “kind of the reason we exist: to reproduce and pass our genes to the next generations.”^[3] Additionally, other biological research has pointed to the existence of a “mommy gene.” A study of female mice by researchers at the Rockefeller University showed that there might be a genetic link to maternal instincts and nurturing traits.^[4] Overall, the compulsion to bear children is biologically inbuilt. It is not possible to discuss the ethics of childbearing for this reason.