Are children just for the middle class and rich?

[SocialistLez]

The topic seems to be coming up a lot lately: young women who have lots of children and depend on government aid such as food stamps, WIC, Medicaid, etc.

The comments range from, "Until they can afford to take care of their child, they shouldn't have more," "We should put a limit on how many kids these people can have" and so on and so forth.

It brings me to ask, are children just for the middle class and rich?

I think temporary government help is good, especially in recessions such as the one the U.S. is facing. If you can't find a job, I can understand having to use food stamps, WIC, Medicaid, etc but even before this recession, I knew people who could have found a job but just didn't want one.

I just want to hear people's views on this.

I think it's an appropriate discussion for the Choice board.

[ejpoeta]

1. if you wait til you can afford kids you will never have kids. the funny thing is

that the well to do probably have less kids because of education and such. I have been on assistance and currently have 3 kids on child health plus or medicaid while we receive family health plus ourselves. should we not be allowed to have more kids??? i personally do not want any more kids, but having someone tell me what i can and can't do i do not like. it's a privacy issue. just like men on medicaid getting viagra. who gets to decide if we go down that road!!

[Gman2]

2. Although I am neutral about the ad, that is the Bristol Palin message.

[JoDog]

3. I think your question begs consideration

as to WHY women who cannot financially care for the children are having the children.

Are they having the children because they want to have children and made a decision to become pregnant? Or are they having children because they did not stay celibate (which is unreasonable) and did not have information or access to contraception? Did they not want to have the child, but had no way to end the pregnancy and for whatever reason kept the child?

There are a lot of factors here. And yes, I think it is an appropriate discussion for this board.

[SocialistLez]

5. Dispatches from the Abortion Wars: The Costs of Fanaticism to Doctors, Patients, and the Rest of Us

( a book) explores this.

Some of the women are pressured into having sex, some just don't use contraception or don't use it consistently...etc.

I went to school with a girl and she's 19, same age as me. She has two kids and she had her second one LESS than a year after her first. I asked her why she didn't make her boyfriend use a condom or why she wasn't on birth control and her answer was just, "I don't know. It just happened." :dunce:

I think access to contraception is an issue. While there are programs in some states that cover birth control, I think access is limit based on income and of course state funds. Plus it's not like these programs are highly advertised, at least not where I live.

As for the abortion question, "Did they not want to have the child, but had no way to end the pregnancy and for whatever reason kept the child." I think due to the low degree of access to abortion in most states...this is of a course a big reason (I think) a lot of low income women end up keeping their child.

SOOOO many factors.
I'd love to do a study on this issue.

[customerserviceguy]

4. I wouldn't worry about the poor not being able to perpetuate themselves

Well-off people tend to have only one to three kids, unless they have some religious imperative to breed a half dozen or so of them. They usually realize their personal responsibility to the kids they have to be able to provide for them.

[quickesst]

6. One of the biggest flaws of the left....

"I knew people who could have found a job but just didn't want one."

....and one of the larger flaws of the right. The failure or the lack of willingness to recognize facts, logic, and common sense.

"I think temporary government help is good, especially in recessions such as the one the U.S. is facing. If you can't find a job, I can understand having to use food stamps, WIC, Medicaid, etc"

For many on the left, their is no distinction between the two. One can be labeled a right-wing, racist/welfare-hating nutbag or whatever other label slung around in a broad-blanket fashion if you do recognize that difference. Simply put, the lack of logic, common sense, and the embracing of willful ignorance is not the exclusive domain of the right. This holds for many issues such as gun ownership, immigration, and so on. Thanks.
quickesst

[SocialistLez]

7. If you want to educate me, please do. NT

[quickesst]

8. The "education"..

...is self-evident. That you do not recognize it means there is no point in a further effort. Thanks.
quickesst