At what point would you say procreation became a choice?

[SomethingClever]

I don't just mean at what point did birth control become viable. Obviously, even before the advent of birth control, if one did not want to have children, one could abstain from sex. Clearly, this pretty much always been an option (although a rarely-chosen one).

But during what generation would you say it became accepted, even normal, for perfectly healthy heterosexual couples to decide not to have children?

Or has this not happened yet?

[billygrippo]

i think this question is unanswerable.

[Siegmund]

It's been "accepted" for quite some time now -- I would say 40 years, but that may just be my own youthfulness showing... I could be convinced to make it 50 to 100 years ago.

Normal? Isn't, and won't be. If it ever is, well, that's sorta the end of the species.... or, rather, it's going to be a short-lived kind of normal, since it'll be the children of the other families that make up the next generation.

[yukoncpa]

I would say when animals first became domesticated and hence, humans knew what exactly made babies. About 15,000 b.c.

[SomethingClever]

[ QUOTE ]
If it ever is, well, that's sorta the end of the species

[/ QUOTE ]

rofl. clearly not everyone will make this choice.

[yukoncpa]

[ QUOTE ]
After God killed Er, Judah tells Onan to "go in unto they brother's wife." But "Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and ... when he went in unto his brother's wife ... he spilled it on the ground.... And the thing which he did displeased the Lord; wherefore he slew him also."

[/ QUOTE ]

Looks like people, even in ancient times, were willing to risk death from some supernatural power, rather than have an unwanted pregnancy.