A Mumbai Man Is Allegedly Suing His Parents for Giving Birth to Him Without His Consent

In today’s weird news story, someone is allegedly suing their parents for giving birth to them without their consent. And in the era of the #MeToo movement, we all know that consent is not just important, it’s crucial. But one man from Mumbai, India is taking that concept to the next level. According to him, he believes that babies need to consent to be born — and because he didn’t give his parents his consent, he’s taking them to court. The man is named Raphael Samuel, and he’s opened up on his personal Facebook account and a Facebook page called “Nihilanand” about his position on the topic.

In a YouTube video titled, “WHY am I suing my parents?” he explained why he decided to file a lawsuit. “Basically, I want everyone in India and also the world to realize one thing: that they are born without their consent. I want them to understand that they do not owe their parents anything,” he said, answer a barrage of questions he’s received online. “If we are born without our consent, then we should be maintained for the rest of our lives. We should be paid to live. Why not? … [Being born] was not your decision. Something that was not your decision, you cannot be responsible for.”

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It’s not that he thinks his parents should’ve obtained his consent, though — or that any would-be parents should be obtain consent to birth their future children. It’s that he thinks nobody should be having any children at all. “You have an option to not have children,” Samuel tells his viewers in the clip. But to prove his case, he’s taking it to court. Luckily, both he and his mother, Kavita Karnad Samuel, are lawyers, and he’s shared her side of the story, too.

Samuel posted her response to the uproar on his own Facebook page, quoting her words. “I must admire my son’s temerity to want to take his parents to court knowing both of us are lawyers,” she said according to him. “If Raphael could come up with a rational explanation as to how we could have sought his consent to be born, I will accept my fault.” But she’s not looking down on her son’s beliefs — far from it.

“His belief in anti natalism, his concern for the burden on Earth’s resources due to needless life, his sensitivity toward the pain experienced unwittingly by children while growing up and so much more has been ruefully forgotten,” he quotes her. “I’m very happy that my son has grown up into a fearless, independent thinking young man. He is sure to find his path to happiness.”