Breeding; it is the genetic need of every animal to propegate the planet with its DNA, to continue through the generations, like a disembodied immortality where your code is passed on, bit by bit, further into the future. Yet with the B/H's out there, lurking with their badges, identifiers, and guns, a culling had begun. Could it be that Fate was no longer the deciding factor of who and what was passed on? Before, it was the strength of a person's body; ergo, their genetic code, that decided who and what lived. Those too weak died early, and humanity learned to have children in quantity, and the quality survived. With advancements in medical technology and biological understanding, the birth rate skyrocketed; no longer did three out of five children survive to the age of five, but a mathematically small percentile didn't survive. We conquered disease and affliction. We conquered bacteria and disorders. Maladies were a thing of the past with the simple acts of washing one's hands, boiling milk, and making penicillin. Humanity laughed in Death's face.
Death, it seemed, was now laughing back.
Humanity progressed the way that it always did, yet something was missing; the quieting of maternity wards. What was once a joyful sight soon turned to sorrow as basinettes remained empty for weeks on end, bundles of joy a rare sight now. It wasn't that people were no longer expecting; it was that the birthing process went caveman style. No longer did illegal breeders go to hospitals for pre-natal care and information, to suffer their labor pains surrounded by nurses, mid-wives, and doctors. The first baby was born in a cave, and millenia later, it was happening again, though in an urban setting. Back alley babies born beside trashcans and in cheap hotel rooms, muffled by blankets to hide the newborns' cries, 'lest it herald the B/H's, those black coats whom called themselves Severity. A new generation was being born, and 99% of them were born on the wrong side of the law.
Statistics showed that Severity was a success, but like all polls, it only counted the numbers that were willing to admit to them.
In the major cities, you could always here the cry of a starving infant, protected by a mother or family that couldn't get their licenses passed... or were responsible for the Saturday Night Specials. Women hid normal things like morning sickness and swelling bellies as some other malady, as if others could be fooled. The poor grew poorer; it was inevitable as they couldn't truly admit to how many mouths they were feeding, the welfare system imploding upon itself. And yet, the politicians called Severity a success, and voted its renewal.
And the morgues filled with bodies of illegal breeders, burying not one, but two; the poor unfortunate soul that got caught, and the one that never stood a chance at all.

02/11/2012