To quote Galileo - "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." I know I've seen that somewhere.
I see way too much of this working with the poor, and working with the stupid. Not that those two are the same - just that there are poorer people who do not provide for their families, although some poorer people do very well. There are some people who make terrible choices, consistently, and find themselves in fixes with kids. Sometimes it breaks your heart to think of another child coming into that household.
A couple of verses that come to mind are:
You will always have poor people with you, but you will not always have me. Matthew 26:11 (TEV)
There are always going to be people who you will wonder why they keep having kids when they cannot provide for those they already have. That is where stupid kicks in. Nowhere in the scriptures (that I know of) does it say you should forcibly stop them. It just says there are going to be people like that.
I know our society thinks we can do away with poverty - but that is where stupidity kicks in again. How much money would it take? How many hundreds of billions - even trillions - of dollars have we thrown at the problem in America? Thankfully, many take advantage of the opportunities and change the future for their families. Sadly, for too many, stupid kicks in and they simply repeat the patterns and behaviors and remain in their poverty, having child after child...and the story goes on.
But anyone who won’t care for his own relatives when they need help, especially those living in his own family, has no right to say he is a Christian. Such a person is worse than the heathen. 1 Timothy 5:8 (TLB)
I know the verse says "won't" but I wonder if it couldn't say "can't" just as well. Or someone who knows they can't and keeps bringing children into the situation they (the parent) cannot handle.
I also know the verse is talking primarily about someone who hardens their heart and won't help their family - but I wonder if it doesn't also apply to someone who doesn't care about following God's plan and does whatever they want to do instead. I'm thinking of the arrogance of a teenage girl who wants to be a mother, no matter her ability to provide and raise a child...or the infamous OctoMom from a few years ago - she just wanted to have more kids - with no means to support them.
I haven't even touched on those families that are well to do financially, but stupid in relationships and dealing with children - the damage done by broken homes - step parents and children - abandonment - abuse - and the list goes on. Families that have the means but are just stupid. People you hear about and you say to yourself, "They shouldn't be allowed to have children."
I'm going to do some more looking through scripture - but I'm pretty sure it doesn't say anywhere that we should neuter them, or have limits on the number of children people have. Scriptures probably doesn't address simply not rewarding people for having more and more kids.
It is an interesting question...