One Step Closer to Handmaids Tale

The White House is apparently assessing ways to persuade women to have more children, including baby bonuses and menstrual cycle classes.  Here's the NYT article on the topic.

​Their concern is that the birthrate has been dropping since 2007. So instead of figuring out why that is the case, they are just figuring out ways to rectify it. And, let's be clear here, they don't care about black, Hispanic, Jewish, etc. birthrates. They care about white Christian birthrates in their push for conservative family values. Let's break this down.

Why has the birthrate dropped?

As I mentioned, the administration isn't bothering to figure out why the birthrate is dropping. If they did, they would determine that the high cost of having children stops many young couples. I don't have children, and one of the reasons why I don't is the cost. Having children is not cheap. Most middle-class and, especially, lower-class couples can't afford childcare on top of rising rent/mortgage, rising healthcare, rising grocery bills, and lower salaries. This is why young girls go on birth control or why women are getting abortions. 

The fact is, if the Government actually cared about people, it would work toward fixing these issues. They would make homes affordable, establish universal healthcare, remove these damn tariffs, etc. If they just focused on removing the hardships facing working Americans, they would find more couples having babies. And more couples having babies means fewer abortions. 

What "so-called" solutions have been submitted?

Using the Fulbright program
​The Fulbright program is a student program that expands perspectives through academic and professional advancement and cross-cultural dialogue. This means the administration would take money away from diverse students to bribe (white Christian) women to have children they really can't afford or don't want.

Baby bonus
​They would offer $5,000 cash to every​ (white Christian) American mother after delivery. $5,000 cash that wouldn't even pay for all of the diapers they would need. $5,000 cash that wouldn't even cover the clothes, food, and medical care that would be necessary to raise a child. 

Menstrual cycle classes
​They would fund programs to educate women on their menstrual cycles so they can better understand when they are ovulating and able to conceive. So, men want to teach women how their own bodies work. Got it.

​National Medal of Motherhood
They would bestow a “National Medal of Motherhood” to mothers with six or more children. What exactly would the medal give them? Will it come with financial assistance to help care for 6 children? Will it come with a lifetime supply of clothes or food? I'm guessing No.

What Happens When it Fails?

All these incentives aren't going to give them the result they are looking for. Sure, some may produce more children, but would it be the kind of children they want (white, Christian children), and would it be enough? My thought is no. What would be left for them to do when all of this fails? Pass a federal ban on abortion and birth control. 

They already want to ban abortion at the federal level. Banning abortion will force women to have children they don't want. It will remove an avenue for women to decide if they wish to have a baby or not.

Birth control is already being attacked. Check out this Jezebel article. By banning birth control at the federal level, this removes an avenue women can use to control if/when they get pregnant. By removing birth control, more women will have babies, babies that they either didn't want or wanted at a later date.

Combining both of these will force women into the home to take care of the multiple children they were forced to have, with no support from the Government.

I will end this post with this RBG quote:

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Quote

"The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman's life, to her wellbeing and dignity. It is a decision she must make herself. 

When Government controls that decision for her, she is being treated as less than a fully adult human responsible for her own choices."