You know what, I'm already in this so I'm just going to lay down my full position, even if it's a hot take to the danger zone (danger zone)

I am not an anti-natalist like many folks I know. I am an anti-parentist.

Or rather, I don't think it's always wrong to have children, but I think most people do it for the wrong reasons and those wrong reasons are inherently abusive when present

This doesn't stop or start at "would you accept your kid if they were trans/gay/disabled"; those are all relatively "easy" cases, as in if you can't answer yes you're scum even if you never have children and it's a life hypothetical

Parents should not feel any entitlement over their children's lives other than a dedication to preserving their child's life at all costs

This isn't the same as a libertarian position; it's fairly neutral on "should kids be able to vote," although I would support that personally

It's not that a parent should never exercise authority over a fairly young kid, you have to make sure they don't get hit by trains or, you know, get COVID

the issue is a kid's destiny, what they want to do, shouldn't be something a parent even expresses a preference on

I don't particularly find the argument that attempts to restrict parental authority tend to fall on marginalized and poor parents persuasive. If you hit your kids you should lose your kids

I'm not proposing a particular gov't solution to this, largely bc our gov't is also abusive. I'm just saying that a parent who thinks it's any business of theirs to hope for any specific fate for their child beyond long life and happiness should not have a pet, much less a child

And I think that if there's a place of reform that needs to happen urgently it's specifically in medicine; once a child is old enough to understand a medical problem, whatever it is, any decisions about it should be up to them, and "understand" needs to be defined in good faith

Furthermore, medical professionals - who you know I don't trust - should be empowered to direct the care of children too young to understand if the parents are making decisions that are likely to be against the child's wishes as an adult

That should mean assume they will want puberty blockers if they express any gender nonconformity, assume they will want any life-impairing conditions corrected in the best way medical science can offer until they say otherwise

Being a parent has to suck. If it doesn't suck, you're either deeply in sync with your kid's needs and wishes - which is rare but I've seen a few cases - or you created a human to use for your own exercise of petty power