11 hours ago
Trump Has A New Plan To Get Women To Have More Babies. What Could Go Wrong?
In an effort to get Americans to have more children, the Trump administration has proposed ideas such as a $5,000 'baby bonus' or a $1,000 tax-deferred investment account for children born between 2025 and 2029. It's as if we're suddenly in a game of Monopoly: Have a baby, pass go and collect cash!
Their concern is that declining birth rates may lead to a smaller workforce amid an aging population, potentially straining economic stability and the social safety net. But having children can be a swift way into debt. According to the Brookings Institution, a financial think tank, the average middle-income family with two children — median income $80,610 ―spends $310,605 on each child by the time they reach 17.
Additionally, having children in the U.S. comes with risks that go well beyond economics. Maternal morbidity is significantly higher in the U.S. than in other developed countries, and since abortion bans came into effect in some states, deaths have risen — inTexas, maternal death shot up 56%, according to the Gender Policy Equity Institute. For white women, the rate doubled from 20 per 100,000 to 39.1; for Black women, who are historically at greater risk, rates jumped from 31.6 to 43.6 per 100,000 live births.
And those are just the implications for mothers; there are risks to babies as well. I made it through birth without too many complications, but my second son nearly didn't. He was born with VACTERL syndrome, a birth defect which affects multiple body systems. In the U.S., birth defects affect 1 in 33 babies and are the leading cause of infant death, making up 1 in 5 of all infant deaths. Racial disparities persist here, too,Black infants are over twice as likely to die relative to those born to parents of other races according to KFF.
My son has a 'rare' disease — fewer than 200,000 people in the U.S. have it. Collectively, however, rare diseases aren't as 'rare' as they may seem. An estimated 25 to 30 million Americans have one, and birth defects like gastroschisis — a condition in which an infant is born with its intestines protruding outside the body — carry higher risk factors for younger women.
Having a child with serious medical issues is like having a bomb explode in the heart of your family. After my son's birth, I was stuck at a hospital in Greenwich, Connecticut — my doctor refused to release me — as my newborn was sent via ambulance to a hospital in New York City for surgery. Emotionally, this was devastating.
My family was lucky; my son survived. My spouse had insurance coverage through his job. Our boy got the immediate and ongoing medical attention he needed. But out-of-pocket copays for the three surgeries that marked my son's first 100 days of life came to $10,000 per month.
Instead of staring into our baby's eyes, we were staring into a dark abyss that foretold possible bankruptcy. As exhausted as I was nursing, pumping, tending to a very sick child and his older brother, I also lay awake at night, terrified at the possibility of losing our health insurance.
We made it through that first year by the skin of our teeth. Others aren't so fortunate. With high premiums and higher deductibles, health insurance becomes prohibitive to many if not most Americans. Today, 41% of adults in the US have health care debt, according to KFF.
Those without health care coverage, and possibly even those with it, are only one accident or unfortunate circumstance away from bankruptcy. The inequities in health care grow the gap between wealthy and poor.
According to the Center for American Progress,congressional Republicans' plans to slash Medicaid funding and allow Affordable Care Act tax credits to expire, ACA health insurance marketplace premiums may increase by thousands of dollars each year. If the GOP dismantles the ACA, those with preexisting conditions — like my son ― could be denied coverage.
The Trump administration suggests that individuals who need help are lazy; that they must earn their keep. But women and families are trying — and it's clearly not possible. Young families can't afford children. Yet conservatives insist women have them anyway. The Biden administration was criticized as elitist for forgiving student loan debt, butstudent loan debt actually delays fertility for women, especially at the higher levels.
Granted, it's easy for me to suggest not having children — I have two, both nearly grown. But women deserve to know the risks that can alter their lives. As a mother, I felt helpless watching my child endure so much suffering. More recently, I regret bringing my children into a world in which abundant resources are shared as if they were scant. It's terrifying to know my sons may not have access to the support they need when they need it.
In countrieslike Japan, parents get a child Italy, working women with two or more children receive additional pension Hungary, women below the age of 40 who marry for the first time are eligible to receive an interest-free general-purpose loan worth $36,000 — which is forgiven in full for those with three offspring. The program was so successful that 2,400 families applied for the loan within the first two weeks.
But offering financial incentives to having children has had lukewarm success over the long term. For example,Hungary's birth rate in 2019 was 1.55 babies per woman. In 2024, it was 1.38 and declining.
The underlying assumption these countries and the Trump administration make is that individuals — both women and men — inherently want children. For whatever reasons, we may not. We may have goals exclusive to family and babies. Just because a government or country 'needs' them, it doesn't mean individuals do; and just because women can biologically have them, it doesn't mean they aspire to.
If the Trump administration truly wants women to have children, it should support them in real and practical ways. Offer child care facilities, adequate financial aid and programs to help families and children. Provide affordable health care that's accessible to everyone. Reinstate Medicare funding. Protect the Affordable Care Act. Recognize abortion as a part of maternal health care.
Knowing it is safe to have a child, and that the child will be safe in the world it is coming into, would be much more effective and persuasive than any one-time bonus.
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