Mar 18, 2021Liked by Allison Lichter, Lane Anderson
Thanks. I appreciated this comprehensive response to why the birth rate is falling. I especially appreciated the last paragraph about how our individualistic capitalist system pervades everything, including cars.
Mar 17, 2021Liked by Allison Lichter, Lane Anderson
Wow, there's a lot to digest here. FYI I love this kind of reporting from/interviewing of experts who can provide the big-picture view borne from research. To me, the idea of population control has always been rooted in desires to manage the "undesirables" in ways that suit the elite. If we dare think this is only an issue of the past, let us not forget that during the Trump administration (and possibly even before), detained migrant women were given unwanted hysterectomies at the US-Mexico border: https://apnews.com/article/georgia-archive-only-on-ap-immigration-f2008d23c5f9087f4214d9722dfb097e. The more I read MR, the more I keep returning to this theme/question: Why does the US do so little to support women/families compared to other rich Western countries? This question kept cropping up in my head as I read this post. If women/families want to have children, why doesn't the US support them better (like their richer, Western counterparts that provide maternity and parental leave and have lower - often zero - healthcare cost associated with childbirth)? If women don't want to have children, why does the US work so hard to restrict their choices (by what are arguably antiquated and unscientific ideas about procreation and abortion)? It all goes back to the (sad) state of American politics...
Personally, my concern about the falling birth rate is that it reflects that people (esp women and birthing people) can't have kids when they want them anymore, because it's not affordable, and there's no safety net. All this has hardly been part of the conversation, which is maddening and mind-boggling. This has become really acute in the last 20 years, and it seems like that fact is **just starting** to break through in the headlines, and in politics.
I know SO many women and birthing people who would like to have a child, or more children, but between housing, healthcare, the cost of childcare, the cost of college, and just the cost of getting pregnant (fertility treatments begin around 10K!), they just can't responsibly pull it off.
I wonder if this is bc birth and fertility is always considered a "women's problem" so men who write headlines and think pieces and policy only think about it when it looks like it's going to impact them--in the economy or social security or their own lack of grandchildren. Would love to hear what men and dads here think about all this!
Wonderful article. It was eye-opening how outrage around “birth rates” touches on the intersectionality of race, feminism, class and capitalism.
Thanks. I appreciated this comprehensive response to why the birth rate is falling. I especially appreciated the last paragraph about how our individualistic capitalist system pervades everything, including cars.
Wow, there's a lot to digest here. FYI I love this kind of reporting from/interviewing of experts who can provide the big-picture view borne from research. To me, the idea of population control has always been rooted in desires to manage the "undesirables" in ways that suit the elite. If we dare think this is only an issue of the past, let us not forget that during the Trump administration (and possibly even before), detained migrant women were given unwanted hysterectomies at the US-Mexico border: https://apnews.com/article/georgia-archive-only-on-ap-immigration-f2008d23c5f9087f4214d9722dfb097e. The more I read MR, the more I keep returning to this theme/question: Why does the US do so little to support women/families compared to other rich Western countries? This question kept cropping up in my head as I read this post. If women/families want to have children, why doesn't the US support them better (like their richer, Western counterparts that provide maternity and parental leave and have lower - often zero - healthcare cost associated with childbirth)? If women don't want to have children, why does the US work so hard to restrict their choices (by what are arguably antiquated and unscientific ideas about procreation and abortion)? It all goes back to the (sad) state of American politics...
Personally, my concern about the falling birth rate is that it reflects that people (esp women and birthing people) can't have kids when they want them anymore, because it's not affordable, and there's no safety net. All this has hardly been part of the conversation, which is maddening and mind-boggling. This has become really acute in the last 20 years, and it seems like that fact is **just starting** to break through in the headlines, and in politics.
I know SO many women and birthing people who would like to have a child, or more children, but between housing, healthcare, the cost of childcare, the cost of college, and just the cost of getting pregnant (fertility treatments begin around 10K!), they just can't responsibly pull it off.
I wonder if this is bc birth and fertility is always considered a "women's problem" so men who write headlines and think pieces and policy only think about it when it looks like it's going to impact them--in the economy or social security or their own lack of grandchildren. Would love to hear what men and dads here think about all this!