Humans cannot trust themselves to be responsible.
In theory I could have zero children (out of concern for the population) and all it takes is for one dumb teen girl to push out four children, and she has TOTALLY undone my life efforts.
If I can afford to adopt or have my own 6 to 12 children, then who should come to me and say I'm wrong.
This comes at a cost. You're thinking from a cellular family view, which I understand.
But you're part of a global community as well and we're all in this together.
What if everyone made that decision? It's not sustainable.
Already, our current population exceeds Earth's capacity to provide, and yet you want us to GROW?
Let me clarify this: Freedom to choose means the population will grow Rachel.
Most people want at least two kids.
Say there is no regulation, and we keep growing.
There will be a mass population decrease due to lack of water and food.
If you're happy to ride it out until disaster strikes and then live with the effects of it, that's where we're different.
I want to prevent it rather than deal with it.
For my whole life I will be a supporter of population control.
I can't think of anything more selfish than people wanting big families at the cost of precious resources.
Every child you have comes at the cost of human life in the future.
You're taking out a loan you cannot repay.