Concerned over rising public assistance rolls in Louisiana, Republican State-Representative John LaBruzzo this week proposed that the state pay poor women $1,000 to undergo tubal ligation. To further combat what he described as "generational welfare" -- his belief that poorly-educated people receiving such government aid as food stamps and subsidized housing have more kids than affluent and well-educated folks -- this ardently anti-abortion legislator is also championing tax incentives to encourage college-educated, higher-income people to have more children.
Personal outrage aside, I'm not sure there's much more that I can add about this Social Darwinist proposal that Kate Harding at Broadsheet and "Ann" at Feministing haven't already said.
Friday, September 26, 2008
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I agree that paying poor women to undergo sterilization is odious. However I have thought myself that paying young women to take contraceptions starting in early adolescence is a wonderful way to give young women economic, reproductive and sexual freedom. If you look at the women in the world who do have economic, reproductive and sexual freedom they tend to reproduce at less than replacement rates reducing the world's population. By paying young women to take contraception you are giving them freedom not taking away their reproductive rights. They then have the right when they choose to stop taking contraception and stop receiving payments for that behavior. This financial encouragement to use contraception will be more significant to young women who are poor. A necessary condition is to provide free contraception to all women in the world when they reach reproductive age. Rather than support patriarchal values, this will give all the women of the world their economic, reproductive and sexual freedom. love and light, Stuart http://stuartmarkberlin.com.
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