1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

This week, the Trump administration has floated some ideas to help reverse declining birth rates in the US including a $5k “baby bonus” and a medal for women who have 6 or more children. These proposals are at best naive and at worst just another scam by an administration that loves to take advantage of its constituents’ willingness to jump on any new bandwagon that is presented. If Republicans are truly interested in increasing birth rates in this country, a much deeper analysis must be done. $5k barely covers the added costs of having a child. Just the out of pocket healthcare costs alone (for someone with health insurance) average almost $3,000. Then add diapers, baby formula (for people who cannot or do not want to breast feed), strollers, car seats, post-natal care, etc, and the $5k is gone in a hurry. Here are some things that might actually help incentivize people to have more children: A living federal minimum wage: what parents who can barely make ends meet without working multiple jobs are going to have large numbers of children? Universal healthcare: no matter which statistics you look at, the US ranks disproportionately low in maternal health for a country of our wealth and stature. Healthcare costs are also astronomical, and they scale with the number of household members, especially for people without insurance. Guaranteed parental leave (12 weeks minimum for mothers and at least 2-3 weeks for fathers): having babies is stressful and exhausting, and having to return to work after only a few weeks or risk losing one’s job makes it worse. Affordable childcare and early education: daycare costs at reputable establishments are astronomical (assuming you don’t end up on a waitlist in the first place). Again, these costs scale with the number of children, so people simply cannot afford to have more kids (see also the previous point about a living wage…). Access to good public schools: Republican policies in states across the country are destroying primary public education by redistributing tax revenues to private schools, which are unaffordable for less affluent parents, even with vouchers. Parents aren’t going to want to have kids if their futures are at risk because of poor educational prospects. Beyond these obvious factors come other logistical challenges. An affordable vehicle large enough to effectively transport 6 children and all their gear is hard to come by; you’re basically talking the largest classes or SUV or a specialty van. Housing is a similar challenge. It takes a pretty large (read expensive) house to comfortably fit a family of 8. I could go on. To make a long story short, while $5k per child is a nice gesture, it does not begin to address the true cost of raising a child. Unless Republicans start to understand that real changes are needed to support families over the long run, they will forever remain the party of pro-birth rather than truly embracing a pro-life approach.