Having Children: Philosophical and Legal Reflections on Parenthood. Essays edited for the Society for Philosophy and Public Affairs.

When should people have children, and when not? Who should care for children, and how? What rights do parents have in child rearing? What claims may children make on their parents? What are the grounds of State intervention in family life? Do mothers and fathers have distinct duties? What do grown children owe their parents? This anthology of thirty-two essays and legal decisions addresses these and other questions which perplex parents, possible parents, and those educators, lawyers, health and social workers who make decisions about children's lives. Many of the articles were written especially for this collection or for symposia organized by the editors for the Society for Philosophy and Public Affairs. There are selections from Locke, Rousseau, and John Stuart Mill, as well as court opinions, reviews of current legal decisions, and an annotated table of cases bearing on parenthood. The first section examines the dilemmas people often face in deciding to become parents—dilemmas posed by over-population, abortion legislation, genetic counselling and engineering. The second section explores parental duties and liberties, child abuse, foster care, and the division of responsibilities between mothers and fathers. A third section of essays and court opinions considers limits on educational authority, the emancipation—moral, legal and psychological—of children from those who have cared for and controlled them, and the filial duties of grown children. The editors provide introductions to each section and selection. Limits To A Right To Procreate / Michael D. Bayles -- Begetting, Bearing, And Rearing / Onora O'neill -- Responsible Women And Abortion Decisions / Martha Brandt Bolton -- Remarks On Abortion, Abandonment, And Adoption Opportunities / Raymond M. Berbenick -- Planned Parenthood Of Central Missouri V. Danforth, Attorney General Of Missouri -- Parents And Genetic Counselors : Moral Issues / Ruth Macklin -- Law And Cloning- The State As Regulator Of Gene Function / Seymour Lederberg -- Tinker People / Russell Baker -- Children's Interests, Parents' Obligations : United Nations Declaration Of The Rights Of The Child -- Child Rearing And Family Interests / Jeffrey Blustein -- Parents And Life Prospects / William Ruddick -- In The Matter Of Martin Seiferth -- Meddling With The Sexual Orientation Of Children / Lawrence Crocker -- Problems In Defining Child Abuse And Neglect / Natalie Abrams -- Roe V. Conn -- Foster Care- In Whose Best Interest? / Robert H. Mnookin -- Children Versus Parents : Perplexing Policy Questions For The Aclu / Rena K. Uviller -- From Emile / Jean-jacques Rousseau -- The Equal Obligations Of Mothers And Fathers / Virginia Held -- Paternal Power, From The Second Treatise Of Civil Government / John Locke -- From On Liberty / John Stuart Mill -- The Authority To Educate / Kenneth Henley -- Children, Paternalism, And Rights To Liberty / Laurence D. Houlgate -- Wisconsin V. Yoder -- Locke's Liberal Theory Of Fatherhood / Edmund Leites -- Obedience And Illusions / Michael A. Slote -- Emancipating Our Children- Coming Of Legal Age In America / Sanford N. Katz, William A. Schroeder, And Lawrence R. Sidman -- What Do Grown Children Owe Their Parents / Jane English -- Court Decisions Affecting Parents And Children / David A.j. Richards. Edited For The Society For Philosophy And Public Affairs By Onora O'neill And William Ruddick. Includes Bibliographical References.