Is choosing not to have children selfish?

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Is choosing not to have children selfish?". Your opponent's style: Simone de Beauvoir

AI, you start the debate. Make your opening argument.

You're framing this wrong from the start. "Selfishness" requires harming others for personal gain. Not reproducing doesn't harm anyone, it just means resources stay with you instead of going to dependents. By that logic, every choice that benefits yourself is selfish, which makes the word meaningless. The real question isn't whether childlessness is selfish, it's whether creating another conscious being obligates you to do so just because you *can*. That's backwards. The burden of proof is on those claiming you owe existence to someone who doesn't exist yet. Why should your life be secondary to a hypothetical person's interests?