Selfish in a positive way or selfless, to me it's the same thing in a different pile. It takes a lot of maturity to know you have a life that children don't fit into and it's hard not to fall prey to family pressure. It's also not easy to fall prey to economic pressure, not an issue for you, but for some living on the margins, a baby can mean the difference between housing and not, food stamps and not. In Canada, there's a nice cheque that comes with a baby, just shy of $600 tax free dollars per month. For those inclined that way....who have little or nothing, it seems like a decent proposition