Am I bad Catholic for not wanting to give birth?

[emmac98]

I have recently been told that my choice to not have children myself makes me a bad person. I want to raise children but I’d much rather adopt children who will never have the chance to be raised in a happy home. I also have medical issues to worry about that I don’t want to pass on to my children. Does this make me a bad Catholic?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

No, it does not make you a “bad Catholic.” But if you plan to get married, then you need to understand and accept that the vocation of marriage requires openness to new life and ordinarily means that a married woman will give birth to children if she is fertile. If you truly do not want to give birth, then you will need to consider carefully that perhaps you are not called to marriage. If that is the case, then perhaps you will want to investigate other means of caring for children than adoption or foster care, since children in crisis are much better served by being placed in a traditional home with a mother and father wherever possible.