Stop Having Kids Targets Poor People Refuted

No matter what anyone’s financial status- whether they are completely broke or can afford to buy every house in the world, our position is that nobody should be having kids. Procreation is an injustice to the person being born no matter how well off their parents are financially or how well their needs and interests can be provided for, due to the inherent suffering humans experience and perpetuate while alive. 

Every time someone in-person has accused us of targeting poor people, it’s been when we are standing in a generally well off area, such as Berkeley, CA, and Portland, OR. We’ve never planned an outreach event in a predominantly poor area, and would never target an area for the reason that the people are poor. We intend to amplify our message to all humans, regardless of their financial status.  

SHK assigns a negative value to birth, and in every case thinks it’s best to not be born. Someone’s financial status doesn’t inherently make them superior or inferior to other people. Nobody’s wealth is going to produce any guarantees for their children; life carries a lot of risks that are out of our control, such as climate disasters, wars, disease, vehicular accidents, and sexual assault, to mention a few. 

Some people in SHK do houseless people food drives, and SHK has also donated to organizations that help low-income people such as New Avenues For Youth, Lebanese Vegans, Women Have Options (now called Abortion Fund of Ohio), Self Enhancement Inc., KidsSave, and Food Not Bombs. 

SHK was accused of targeting poor people because of the location of a couple billboards in Portland, OR. The billboards were on main roads that are full of drivers all morning, day, and evening who are very financially diverse. The reasoning behind the locations was they were the best bang for the buck (most eyes for the least amount of money). Maybe the cost of living was cheaper in these areas, but “targeting the poor” certainly wasn’t our intent. 

SHK was also accused of targeting poor people when we posted a group photo from an outreach event in front of a place called Albina Early Head Start, which is a daycare facility in a gentrified area of Portland, OR for low-income families. The photo was taken on a Sunday afternoon, which means they were closed. We took a photo in front of the brick building, but we weren’t actually standing there for our outreach (almost nobody would have even been able to see us). Members of our group had been at all four corners of the intersection by this building each holding one or more signs so drivers and pedestrians could see us. We wanted to get a group photo before we left, so we decided to do it in front of a perfectly good brick wall. The photo SHK posted to social media has the name Albina Early Head Start visible, so unsurprisingly there were people who exploited this opportunity to manufacture a story that we were targeting poor people. 

Our detractors will take any opportunity to paint SHK in a negative light. We realize this, and persist in explaining that our message does not discriminate based on financial status. Antinatalism is not exclusive to any financial group, and we hope we’ve clarified this point.