A lifestyle choice, by definition, is
"a choice a person makes about how to live and behave, according to their attitudes, tastes, and values." I think making brats falls into that category. There's nothing wrong with calling it a lifestyle choice because THAT'S WHAT IT IS.
The moron compares it to caring for aging parents or a sick spouse are lifestyle choices. No, they are not. The person in question may choose to be a caregiver or they may choose to put the aforementioned parties into assisted living or whatever. That's not so much a
lifestyle choice as it is just a choice that they are making out of their own or someone else's best interests. Some people may feel the need to be caregivers due to pressure from others while some people voluntarily make that choice, but that's different from making the totally voluntary and totally unnecessary choice to have kids. Nobody needs kids, and kids do not exist until you make them, whereas a formerly healthy, currently sick person who is already here will need caring for.
The need to care for and raise children is only a need because people force children into existence. If they quit making unnecessary goddamn people, there would be no perceived societal need to deal with the little shits.
Parenting is a lifestyle choice because I equate reproducing with a hobby, only it's one you can't just abandon when it gets old. It's expensive, it's time-consuming, people engage in it to varying degrees ranging from casual to extreme, it's all people know how to talk about once they get into it, and it's basically a biological DIY art/science project. Since having kids is not necessary, there is no reason the consequences of those children should fall on anyone other than the idiots who made those kids.
I do agree that parenting is a type of relationship, but the thing is people do it ass backwards. In a platonic or romantic relationship, you get to know the person first and if you get along with them, you carry on that relationship and it will likely grow stronger and you can see that person as little or as often as you want. Conversely, if things go to shit either right away or later on, you can always end the relationship. With making biological kids, you have no fucking idea what you're getting. You're just expected to adore it once it arrives and you have to deal with them and their shit 24/7. Love of any sort has to grow and be earned over time. Having kids is more like an arranged marriage where two parties are forced together and expected to get along.