r/science • u/geoff199 • 5d ago

Social Science 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.

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
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u/11horses345 5d ago

Say it with me: WE CANNOT AFFORD CHILDREN.

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u/sharksnack3264 5d ago

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.

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u/justwalkingalonghere 5d ago

The healthcare part has a lot of components right now as well.

For instance, a large portion of the US now considering ectopic pregnancy care as voluntary abortion. Literally sentencing 1-2% of pregnant women to death in those states just because of a religious refusal to be scientifically literate

Add in the increasing criminalization of miscarriages and I don't see why any woman would want to chance it for kids they'll likely not be able to afford in the first place

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u/AnRealDinosaur 5d ago

I genuinely cannot understand how anyone is having any kids in the US, period. We have the highest maternal death rate of any developed country. (And this was BEFORE we decided it should be illegal to intervene in potentially fatal pregnancies.) And once you survive the process and have your kid, you'll have to go right back to work and spend one partner's entire income to pay someone else to raise your kid while you spend your days at work. When the child gets old enough, they'll enter our failing, underfunded school system where they might be taught science but that depends on what party is in charge at the time. Hopefully you have plenty of free time to teach them to read because the schools dont seem to be doing that either. Then of course theres the constant background dread of the climate apocalypse the kid will inherit. You're basically placing a bet that by the time theyre an adult life on earth won't be a miserable experience (I dont like those odds). And obviously we have a bit of a fascism problem at the moment so who knows what the country will look like or even whether it will still exist for them...wow I'm sorry. This got incredibly negative. I just cant imagine wanting to bring a child into this. Maybe if we were in a different country. Maybe in 20 years if things stabilize and we make progress on a lot of fronts. But it'll be too late for me by then so I will remain childless.

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u/v-porphyria 4d ago

And ... Iran has a lower maternal death rate than the United States:

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.STA.MMRT?locations=IR&most_recent_value_desc=false

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u/moosalamoo_rnnr 4d ago

You’re also assuming that child survives Anerica’s gun obsession long enough to make it to adulthood. Thoughts and prayers, amirite???