Population Control in the smallest form

By Dana Ramos

 Every day, thousands of children are born into poverty, and many of them will end up dying because of it. We see ads on the television for Americans to donate money to impoverished children in other countries, but how many Americans donate money to support our own children? Do taxpayers realize how much of their tax dollars go to supporting our own needy children and families? If Americans can be expected to support these children, should they not be able to pay to prevent the conception all together? If a woman cannot afford to support herself, let alone a child, should the taxpayers have to?
Or should these women be paid financial incentives to practice birth control, thus saving the taxpayers a couple of bucks every year? The government has gone almost as far as to make abortions illegal, but from a tax standpoint, could it be that abortions are actually saving our society today? There is a problem with women having unwanted pregnancies, and abortion would be an extreme solution to the problem. Wouldn’t tax incentives for impoverished women who use birth control be a more viable solution? What about the individuals who feel that abortions are morally and politically incorrect? How do we stop them from having children without overstepping their constitutional rights?
Every time a child is born into poverty, he or she directly affects the taxpaying citizens of this country. A portion of every paycheck that hardworking citizens receive goes towards programs like Medicaid, food stamps, and TANF, or cash assistance. America is rewarding financially poor women for having children instead of trying to prevent the pregnancies. After all, as the poverty level rises, the economy drops.
Teenage pregnancy is not only rising with the poverty rate; it is part of the cause. More teens are getting pregnant and turning to the government for assistance because of the examples set before them. Why are these young adults turning up pregnant all the time? Where are the parents and guardians when these irresponsible mistakes are being made, and why were the youths not put on birth control to prevent such cases? As a result of teen pregnancy, the high school dropout rate has increased and the probability of these teens returning to school to get an education is slim to none.
At one time in America, it was easier for people to sit at home and have children than it was to go out and work to support their families. America has made it easy to pay for impoverished children after they are born instead of actively trying to prevent unwanted conceptions.
Money should be awarded to individuals trying to better themselves with higher education, helping them to survive through the financial stress of college. Money should not be handed to the individual sitting at home collecting separate welfare checks for each child that she has conceived at the taxpayers’ and government’s expense.
Instead of being faced with the support of an impoverished society, Americans should discourage these pregnancies by allotting financial incentives for these women to practice birth control methods, preconception. This would put a halt on pregnancy before education and would prevent more women from setting the wrong example for younger generations. It would also better allow our country to control the amount of tax dollars spent on impoverished families and teenage pregnancy.