{"id":2646858,"date":"2026-08-19T09:05:01","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T13:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignin-our-modern-dystopia-we-treat-animals-like-children-and-children-like-animals\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T09:10:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T13:10:58","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignin-our-modern-dystopia-we-treat-animals-like-children-and-children-like-animals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignin-our-modern-dystopia-we-treat-animals-like-children-and-children-like-animals\/","title":{"rendered":"We Treat Animals Like Children And Children Like Animals"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Futm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignin-our-modern-dystopia-we-treat-animals-like-children-and-children-like-animals%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2646858&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article critiques the increasing societal tendency to treat pets as equivalent or even superior to human children and highlights parallels between pet ownership and reproductive choices.It discusses recent cases involving surrogacy, abortion laws, and the commodification of human life, comparing these to the consumeristic approach to animals-such as selecting pets based on breed, color, and health. The piece points out that as birth rates decline, pet spending surges, with society increasingly prioritizing pet care and luxury, while viewing children as optional or burdensome. It also references philosophical ideas that devalue human babies and elevate animals, suggesting that this shift contributes to a distorted view of human life. Ultimately,the author condemns this trend as dark and sinister,driven by a worldview that diminishes human dignity in favor of adult preferences and convenience.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>It\u2019s a shocking but obvious reality that an unborn baby in America might be better off as a puppy in some cases. Recent news stories like the nightmare saga of McKenna West\u2019s struggle to save \u201cBaby Gabriel\u201d from an execution his biological parents attempted to force on her and Massachusetts giddily unleashing abortion through all nine months of pregnancy merely serve to underline that reality. The more we treat animals like children, the more we\u2019re treating children like animals, and it\u2019s disgusting and blasphemous.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBaby Gabriel\u201d (now Rumi), readers will be happy to know, \u201cis now recuperating under the loving care of his parents and his heroic team of doctors, nurses, and medical staff,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tmz.com\/2026\/08\/17\/baby-gabriel-biological-parents-choose-heart-surgery-to-save-him\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according<\/a> to the parents\u2019 attorney. Of course, the only reason this is the case is that his surrogate mother <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/08\/05\/surrogacy-is-a-form-of-slavery-it-should-be-abolished\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">refused<\/a> the parents\u2019 command to abort him and a court <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/08\/17\/baby-gabriels-surrogacy-nightmare-proves-her-body-her-choice-was-always-a-lie-1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ordered<\/a> them to get their baby a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/officials-decry-violence-targeting-places-of-worship-after-michigan-church-attack\/\" title=\"Officials decry violence targeting places of worship after Michigan church attack\">life-saving heart surgery<\/a>. So the definition of \u201cloving\u201d here is, uh, complicated. <\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s not complicated is that Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed treated their son as something less than human once they found out he was less healthy than they expected. At that point, the baby-acquisition process became more like shopping for a goldendoodle. <em>The one we picked out didn\u2019t pass the vet check-up? Oh, that\u2019s concerning \u2014 did you have any other males left with that cool color pattern?<\/em> Only, in the pet-shopping process, the consumer just moves on instead of pressuring the pet store to off the pooch instead of giving it up for adoption.<\/p>\n<p>It would be fabulous if the pet-shopping approach were limited to Gilkar and Ahmed, but it\u2019s not. That\u2019s why there are several seasons\u2019 worth of <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >true-crime horror stories involving biological parents<\/a> (or mere baby-buyers) forcing surrogates to abort unborn babies \u2014 or just getting the abortions themselves, as is the case with Kate Dineen and Alex Lawton, \u201cposter parents\u201d for the Massachusetts abortion-until-birth bill. When their unborn son suffered a stroke, the state\u2019s 24-week abortion ban meant <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2022\/05\/21\/business\/traveling-out-state-an-abortion-nightmarish-journey-that-some-massachusetts-women-face-too\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">they had to travel<\/a> to Maryland to have their baby\u2019s life ended. After all, if the baby had survived birth, \u201cit would mean years of pain and suffering,\u201d and children, like pets, aren\u2019t supposed to be unhealthy.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s something \u201cno one should ever have to go through,\u201d the Boston Globe observed, by which it meant traveling to obtain life-ending \u201cservices\u201d \u2014 not having your parents pay someone to kill you. But thanks to Democrats\u2019 new unlimited-abortion law, that travel won\u2019t be necessary, which brought much joy to the group of abortion-eager individuals below. (Ironically, as Hannah Bates noted in <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/08\/13\/massachusetts-wont-let-you-sell-puppies-under-8-weeks-but-lets-you-abort-babies-until-birth\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">these pages<\/a>, many of the same Democrats backing the abortion bill also eagerly passed protections for animals in prior years.)<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>For further proof of how getting a baby increasingly mirrors pet acquisition, look to the <a href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/news\/preimplantation-genetic-testing-market-hit-093000320.html?guccounter=1&#038;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&#038;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKu9wVYtNTs0eR2DfNiPb3h-EmABB6r8lbjWEYj3pQNkkCh03e-G2b5y1KiNDH1sc5yi1vOM_4PmutsQku5ddRCI7x0mOB2o9w6Ge2ehlCkQWWJJcAh0UpaJXydWdBH1fiJ4cvzALi-h7S6sEIaceIl7zU4sK3cJD8FLjcYTXOgs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">near-billion-dollar industry<\/a> devoted to sifting through tiny humans to find those \u201cworth having.\u201d It\u2019s the commodification of tiny humans with a hyperconsumeristic touch, customizability on steroids to the point of absurd parody. Which is why Paris Hilton created and sidelined (that is, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/03\/03\/paris-hilton-to-keep-20-humans-frozen-until-they-die-because-she-wants-a-girl\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">doomed<\/a>\u201d to destruction) 20 tiny (male) lives in her effort to get a baby with the \u201cright\u201d sex. Barrie Drewitt-Barlow, one of the United Kingdom\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/clyp0336y6jo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">first gay fathers<\/a>,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/clyp0336y6jo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">encapsulated<\/a> the consumeristic mindset this way: \u201cNobody wants an ugly kid.\u201d (Authorities <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/clyp0336y6jo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">charged<\/a> Drewitt-Barlow with multiple sex crimes earlier this year.) Prospective pet owners are notorious for seeking out the preferred breed, size, sex, color, ancestry, and so forth, while prioritizing picture-perfect health, and now would-be parents are too.<\/p>\n<p>More generally, there\u2019s the reality that having children is increasingly seen as optional, to be had if and when a stars-align gamut of criteria are met, and not an essential part of the good life. Gen Z men and women <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/politics-news\/poll-gen-zs-gender-divide-reaches-politics-views-marriage-children-suc-rcna229255\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rank<\/a> having children far behind a number of other priorities, such as working a \u201cfulfilling\u201d job or \u201chaving enough money to do the things you want to do.\u201d About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/social-trends\/2024\/07\/25\/the-experiences-of-u-s-adults-who-dont-have-children\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">half<\/a> of under-50 U.S. adults who don\u2019t have kids say they won\u2019t have kids, and most of them say the reason is \u201cthey just don\u2019t want to.\u201d The \u201coptionality\u201d of children is reflected in the plummeting birth rate and the substitution of other \u201cgoods,\u201d like pets.<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>As the birth rate plummets, pet-spending is exploding and is expected to exceed <a href=\"https:\/\/americanpetproducts.org\/news\/u.s.-pet-industry-reaches-158-billion-in-2025-poised-for-continued-growth-in-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$160 billion<\/a> this year, nearly tripling the amount <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/opub\/btn\/volume-12\/we-love-our-pets-and-our-spending-proves-it-1.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">shelled<\/a> out in 2013. Costs include luxury items like <a href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/news\/12-most-extravagant-dog-expenses-210024566.html?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&#038;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKu9wVYtNTs0eR2DfNiPb3h-EmABB6r8lbjWEYj3pQNkkCh03e-G2b5y1KiNDH1sc5yi1vOM_4PmutsQku5ddRCI7x0mOB2o9w6Ge2ehlCkQWWJJcAh0UpaJXydWdBH1fiJ4cvzALi-h7S6sEIaceIl7zU4sK3cJD8FLjcYTXOgs&#038;guccounter=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">these<\/a> and money dumped into the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.29news.com\/2026\/01\/20\/more-americans-are-buying-insurance-their-pets-survey-finds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">growing<\/a> pet insurance market. Nearly two-thirds of pet owners <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/91447542\/pets-are-the-new-kids-how-a-generational-shift-is-rewriting-work-culture\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">claim<\/a> \u201cthey would quit their job if it interfered with their ability to care for their pet,\u201d and more than <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/lifestyle\/pet-owners-vet-bill-debt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">75 percent<\/a> say they would go into debt to pay for critical care for their animal. According to survey data from 2024, two-thirds of households have a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/advisor\/pet-insurance\/pet-ownership-statistics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pet<\/a>, and more than half of those say the pet is \u201cas much a part of their family as a human family member.\u201d The over-the-top doggy birthday \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/lifestyle\/dog-pawty-3-pet-owners-share-why-spend-hundreds-pets-birthday-parties\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pawties<\/a>,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/millennials-and-gen-z-are-gentle-parenting-their-dogsits-a-problem-12026171\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">discussions<\/a> of \u201cgentle parenting\u201d canines, and testimonials of pet \u201cparents\u201d who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/millennials-raising-pets-instead-kids-spoiled-dogs-cats-anxiety-health-2024-11\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">admit<\/a> to being \u201c\u2018very guilty\u2019 of treating their pups as babies\u201d all serve to confirm that pet owners actually mean that. <\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s nothing wrong with having a pet, obviously, and there\u2019s a number of legitimate reasons a person might not have children. But the way large segments of our society increasingly view pets as replacements for babies and babies as glorified pets is grossly dark and sinister. On the one hand, it reflects a Bambi-fied anthropology, where animals are humanized and seen as morally superior to humans. On the other, it\u2019s a manifestation of the perverted viewpoint of Princeton ethicist Peter Singer, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/archive\/opinions\/1999\/09\/11\/a-professor-who-argues-for-infanticide\/cce7dc81-3775-4ef6-bfea-74cd795fc43f\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a> nearly 50 years ago that: \u201cHuman babies are not born self-aware, or capable of grasping that they exist over time. They are not persons,\u201d and \u201cthe life of a newborn is of less value than the life of a pig, a dog, or a chimpanzee.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of course, the less abstract explanation is that a growing number of Americans view pets and children as different versions of the same product: an adult accessory that exists to improve the life of its \u201cowner\u201d without causing too much inconvenience or making too many demands of the individual who actually matters. With God and the reality that humans are made in his image kicked to the curb, it\u2019s a Peter Singer world where babies are less than human and animals get promoted to take their place, but what\u2019s truly important is adults getting whatever adults want, regardless of the body count. <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Joshua Monnington is an assistant editor at The Federalist. He was previously an editor at Regnery Publishing and is a graduate of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unborn babies sometimes treated worse than pets in America<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3134,"featured_media":2646859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Copy-of-Untitled-2026-08-19T062046.581.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[84370,39454,38995],"class_list":["post-2646858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-animal-ethics","tag-animal-welfare","tag-child-development"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Copy-of-Untitled-2026-08-19T062046.581.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2646858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3134"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2646858"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2646858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2646865,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2646858\/revisions\/2646865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2646859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2646858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2646858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2646858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}