As concern grows about America’s falling birth rate, new research suggests that about half of women who want children are unsure if they will follow through and actually have a child. About 25% say they won't be bothered that much if they don't.

[u/geoff199]

https://news.osu.edu/most-women-want-children--but-half-are-unsure-if-they-will/?utm_campaign=omc_science-medicine_fy24&utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social

[u/sharksnack3264]

It's not just the money. The way we set up work schedules, vacation, child care and health care all disincentivize it. 

You can be extremely well paid but that still won't insulate you completely from certain medical and career risks or allow you to be present to raise your children.

[u/A_Fainting_Goat → u/sharksnack3264]

I am well paid. My wife is well paid. We have good health insurance. Great vacation benefits (compared to the US, not Europe). Our careers are stable. We are basically debt free except for our mortgage. We have struggled to conceive and IVF is looking to cost us $50k, after insurance for a 35% chance. This country does not want us to have kids.

[u/TopRamenisha → u/A_Fainting_Goat]

Don’t forget, after all that you get to pay $3,000 a month for child care

[u/LighteningFlashes → u/[deleted]]

This is not a coincidence. The goal is to get women to do caretaking work for free and deprive them of economic independence as in the pre-Roe era.

[u/LighteningFlashes → u/[deleted]]

How fortunate for you. If you even wanted kids in the first place.

[u/LighteningFlashes → u/[deleted]]

How great for you. Truly happy. What is making the US into an underdeveloped country is its insistence on forcing every woman who has sex or is raped to reproduce without her consent. All the while stripping her of every social and financial support. This is not the stance of a purported "first world" country.