Having Children: A failed experiment?

A friend of mine woke up from a deep sleep recently when she heard a woman in the apartment building next door to her  severely abusing her daughter; she was throwing her 15-year-old against the walls and  screaming, "I hate that bitch." The teenager was crying hysterically. Not long ago, in the parking lot of a local supermarket, I saw a mother yelling at her young son who was strapped into a carseat as she threw bags of groceries at his feet, screaming that she was "sick of this shit." I don't know what the shit was. Her daughter, who looked about 8 or 9 years old, was standing outside the older model car with dark-tinted windows silently handing the bags of groceries to her mother. She had the most dejected and miserable look on her face. Obviously this was nothing new.

Who can't tell a story like this at some point in their lives, if not on a regular basis? And the stories aren't confined to any ethnic or socio-economic group or geographical region. It's everywhere. What do you think? Maybe it's time to give up the idea of having children. It's just not working out. The whole idea of being biologically entitled to having children - and of course, not everyone is a bad parent - has its valid arguments but it doesn't seem to be working out. Even if you're the best parent in the world, you can't account for every single event that might impact your child's life in a negative way which can lead to depression, sadness, struggles, challenges, etc. Think how hard life has been for each of us, no matter how good or bad we've had it. Do you want to bring another human being into the world who will go through the same problems, issues? If yes, why? If you're a horrible parent, your kids will live with the legacy of your abuse forever and carry on the pathetic tradition. Men and women are unhappy being parents, and the children you bring into the world will inevitably be unhappy too, no matter how hard you try. It seems to be a given and there seems to be a small but growing movement that supports my argument:

The New York Times - http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/why-does-anyone-have-children/
The New York Times (again) - http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/should-this-be-the-last-generation/
New York magazine - http://nymag.com/news/features/67024/
BBC radio - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-10786279

Having children shouldn't be a kneejerk reaction to becoming an adult or a not-to-be-denied biological impulse. Really think about it. Is it the right decision any more?