Why stop at gametes? Consider a person a million years from now, most of whose ancestors are not yet even a gleam in their ancestors’ eyes. They’re still a potential future person, and we should still think about their welfare, to the extent that the effect of our actions now upon them are clear (i.e. mostly, we shouldn’t go extinct).
You didn’t discuss Utilitarian population ethics. But pretty clearly, increasing the population beyond what the available resources can ever support and bringing about an unavoidable population crash due to starvation and resource depletion (as some biological species do, such as locusts) does not maximize total utility. So under Utilitarianism you can both consider a gamete, or even gametes not yet produced, as a potential of a future person who would have utility of their own, and also (in appropriate situations) believe that use of birth control increases total utility.
Masturbation is murder!
Your deliberately overstated argument only applies to males.
More practically, the number of gametes any human (male or female) produces is a lot larger (especially for males) than the number of children they could possibly raise. The supply of gametes is not generally the limiting factor in how many children a couple can have.
Why stop at gametes? Consider a person a million years from now, most of whose ancestors are not yet even a gleam in their ancestors’ eyes. They’re still a potential future person, and we should still think about their welfare, to the extent that the effect of our actions now upon them are clear (i.e. mostly, we shouldn’t go extinct).
You didn’t discuss Utilitarian population ethics. But pretty clearly, increasing the population beyond what the available resources can ever support and bringing about an unavoidable population crash due to starvation and resource depletion (as some biological species do, such as locusts) does not maximize total utility. So under Utilitarianism you can both consider a gamete, or even gametes not yet produced, as a potential of a future person who would have utility of their own, and also (in appropriate situations) believe that use of birth control increases total utility.
Your deliberately overstated argument only applies to males.
More practically, the number of gametes any human (male or female) produces is a lot larger (especially for males) than the number of children they could possibly raise. The supply of gametes is not generally the limiting factor in how many children a couple can have.