There is an enormous number of orphaned children in the world. They desperately need homes for comfort, security, and a family. Likewise, many wish to become parents. Instead of furthering their genes, they can adopt. Adoption is a more moral choice because a child already exists and is waiting for their family. If you are able and willing to become a parent, then it is logical to help a child that needs that love. Procreation is not a necessity when there are children who do not have homes. Procreation is needed to prevent extinction. Today, there is a surplus of children available, so our survival is not at stake. I would argue that it is, in fact, cruel and immoral to give birth to children in such a situation. Procreation is a sign of privilege. Privilege to be able to give birth to children and lavish them with love. It is also a sign of ignorance and snobbishness. Procreating when the same love can be given to someone who needs it proves that much. Creating a child for the sole purpose of furthering our genes is utterly selfish. It also does not help the community because the population increases when a child could have been helped instead. Allowing a child to remain in the system and develop all sorts of problems with no fault of their own is ignorant. It is crucial to address the number of children who have been abandoned or left behind because their parents could not take care of them. When there are people able to take care of a child, they should help those that already exist and not make a child to give them that same love. Sources https://bigthink.com/against-the-new-taboo/why-you-should-adopt-and-not-create-children https://achildshope.com/want-to-adopt/why-adopt/#:~:text=Adoption%20allows%20couples%20and%20single,to%20children%20who%20need%20them https://www.verywellfamily.com/five-reasons-you-should-adopt-a-child-26587

Adopting a child can be a long and gruelling process that some people aren't resilient enough to get through. Firstly, it is only after a number of assessments from a panel of around 14 experts that adoption can occur. These people include adopters, adoptees, doctors, solicitors, councillors, social workers and representatives from education and children services. Receiving judgement about your ability to be a potential parent is an invasive scenario that some people do not wish to be in, especially when given the choice of procreation. Furthermore, more often that not, when a couple decides that they would like a child, timing is a key factor. This may be because of age, stage of career, relationship status or a number of other reasons. However, timing is something that cannot be controlled when adopting. Ellen Wallwork writes, 'Some people only have to wait a very short time to be matched with a child, but for others it can take a number of years. There's no way of knowing how long you'll have to wait so it really is a hard process, especially if you know that you're up against other families.' Finally, there is the fear of not being able to successfully bond with your adopted child. Through procreation a baby spends 9 months in the womb physically connected to their mother whilst listening to the voices of loved ones. However, there is no way to guarantee this bond with an adopted child which is a worry that can completely put people off the idea. Although, adoption is clearly morally better than procreation due to the many orphaned children in the world, it is not obvious that the concept as a whole is superior. For some people, the risks that come with adoption outweigh their moral urge to do good. Wallwork, Ellen (2015). '15 Things You Should Know About Adopting A Child', *Huffpost*. Accessible via: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/03/17/15-things-you-should-know-about-adopting-a-child_n_7315868.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAFaadofiNB-aTKLiwh6KlkDscgRR5MMw6nfYgm12aGhVytWi1Qm9_xsXy8UvqvhicI3nlaeb7uGN7F65xKTfqAVKhCvdn9kSdzq0TwBkmA4WqUOMpoQuqpEFnlAWoqrrnRo8eyGrUD3RFKhOL_bJ5tAJFKO-pmhDn01sux3jTL9R

**TL; DR – While adoption and procreation are two different approaches each with their own pros and cons, the fact that they both involve raising a child or children – whether biologically your own or not, does not necessarily make one “better” than the other.** While adoption is indeed a very moral and principled cause, no person should be made to feel obligated to adopt a child – no matter the circumstances. This is one of the very issues that Travis N. Rieder (2014), Director of the MBE Program, assistant director for education initiatives, core faculty, and research scholar discusses in his published paper – which appears in the Journal of Applied Philosophy called “Procreation, Adoption, and the Contours of Obligation.” So while his paper explores the potential benefits and harms of the morality of human procreation as a whole, Rieder also specifically addresses if one has a moral obligation to adopt (instead of procreate), particularly if one is able to afford it. Rieder does this by first informing us of two very important concepts that help us to understand and define adoption and procreation better, namely, pro-natalism and anti-natalism. Here pro-natalism is regarded as having a general view or attitude that procreating is a good thing – we should go ahead and procreate. While anti-natalism is regarded as a view or attitude that procreating is a bad thing – we should no procreate. Furthermore, Rieder then tackles these two concepts head on by asking: Do prospective (potential) parents have a general obligation to adopt rather than procreate? While he does point out that we should not take much comfort from his answer, his short response is no. No, potential parents should not be made to feel obligated to adopt rather than procreate. His main reason for feeling this way is because he considers such acts as, “ ‘first order intimacies’ – the kind of actions that it would be generally inappropriate to consider targets of obligation.” And while he does indicate that this objection is specific to obligation and also that many philosophers think one should to be held accountable (for something) if one is obligated to do something, he admits that “some acts just don’t seem appropriately demandable.” So then, while we recognize that both approaches – adoption and procreation, have their advantages and disadvantages, not one of these can or should be viewed as better than the other. They are simply different, especially since both approaches have the same end goal in mind – taking care of and providing a child or children with a loving and stable environment. Is It Right to Have a Baby When You Could Adopt? http://bioethicsbulletin.org/archive/is-it-right-to-conceive-a-child-when-you-could-adopt-instead [accessed February 12, 2021].

Orphans are at an elevated risk for abuse, suicide, mental and physical health issues, and criminality (males placed in foster care between the ages of 13-18), to name a few. Maslow's hierarchy of needs lists the three bottom (most important) human needs as **physiological needs** (food, water, sleep), **safety needs**, and **love and belonging**. The lack of a stable, loving family jeopardizes all three of these rungs. Also, pregnancy and childbirth seem horrendous. For many women, it consists of 9 months of nausea, followed by what is widely held as several hours of the most excruciating pain humans experience naturally, the risk of death, and, for 10-20% of women, severe postpartum depression. Nearly every mom would say that this is all worth it, which I don't doubt since they now know the human they created. But when you look at it next to the immense suffering of the more than 140 million orphans in the world, it hardly seems necessary. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7043744/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537114001146 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4465590/

It is cruel to bring life into this world. Even if the pains of life didn't outweigh the joys, the joys still wouldn't invalidate the pains. The pain and suffering a person feels in life is still valid no matter how happy and privileged they are outside of that suffering and that suffering needn't have happened if the individuals parents hadn't selfishly decided to bring life into this world. I implore absolutley everyone who is reading this to get steralised.

I plan to adopt because there are children who need loving homes and families, but I am not going to say that anyone should adopt over procreate. It is up to whatever the adult or adults want.

I think its a slightly different bond you will have with an adopted child than your own flesh and blood. I'm not against adoption but I think if you have the ability to procreate then that's the better option.