Recently in Chicago there was an egregious incident: a baby was killed by its own father. Shocked by this incident, Chicago City Councilor Ray Lopez said that he was tired of looking at such tragic stories, and he had a plan to end it all. He proposed introducing licenses for childbearing or a duty on conception.
“If love does not motivate good behavior, it may be a blow to the pocket,” he tweeted, and later confirmed his position to the Chicago Sun-Times, promising that he would do everything possible to get such a law passed, but noted that it will not be easy: “I don’t think there really is any way to allow people to have children only with a license. This is not China. We are not a communist country with childbearing laws.”
Indeed, China's one-family-one-child policy has led to an epidemic of infanticide, unregistered children, forced abortions, and unsafe childbirth with increased maternal mortality.
These results are tragic but not surprising. Excessively tightening the rules always leads to unintended consequences. The introduction of licenses to cut and dye hair in the United States has resulted in many aspiring hairdressers borrowing thousands of dollars to qualify for low-paying jobs. And the introduction of licenses to weave braids has resulted in fines for countless minority women. A certain Isis Brantli even ended up in jail for doing her own national hairstyle and teaching it to others.
Like almost every license, Lopez's parental license will undoubtedly have unintended consequences. Of course, his intention is to protect children from violence, however, conscientious mothers who, for whatever reason, cannot obtain a license, are likely to select their children, and naturally mothers will resist this. It is not hard to imagine a scenario in which a pregnant woman who fails the test to become a parent escapes to give birth and raise her child in secret from the state. As we can see from the example of undocumented immigrants, when people are forced to hide from the state, they have to work for low wages, in dangerous jobs and refuse medical care. In such circumstances, the "bad" parent will become even worse.
America's relentless desire to license everything under the pretext of public safety has gone too far. Lopez's initiative most likely does not have a chance of success yet, but the very fact that the legislator is proposing this in all seriousness is alarming.
Brené Goforth
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