Life is a culmination of indescribable virtue and value regardless of gender, appearance, race or age. Because of its importance, our society often demands the essentiality of reproduction. However, as countries develop and the standard of living climbs, people are beginning to choose to have less children. According to The Economist, people are not reproducing enough to create a stable successive generation or to have a smooth population transition. The frustration toward the changing view of human reproduction often takes an ironic turn, and oppresses the people who are not at fault.
Reproduction should be defined as a voluntary and individual choice. No matter how important the views of society or government, they should not override an individual’s personal desire. Doing so would be the oppression of basic human rights. Humans are not animals forced to reproduce and maintain an ideal number. Of course, it is important to have a stable flow between generations in society, but not essential if it violates the rights of already existing lives.
Some government policies meant to encourage people to reproduce, especially in countries with low birth rates, have proven controversial. According to The Independent, the South Korean government launched a website showing where fertile female citizens live. It was shut down within hours of it going live after being fiercely criticized as being sexist and inappropriate. The website had a pink map showing users where the most women between the ages of 15 and 49 lived, in order to counter the country’s strikingly low birth rate. The South Korean government released a statement saying the website “was established to encourage local governments to learn and compare other governments’ benefits and to promote free competition.”
This website depicts fertile women merely as future mothers rather than as individuals. Instead of trying to force reproduction, society should try to combat the problems of why people are not choosing to reproduce.
While South Korea is trying to promote reproduction among its citizens, policies of the United States tend to disincentive potential parents from having children. The defunding of Planned Parenthood is a major goal of the Republican controlled Congress. Many conservative or pro-life individuals claim the organization uses federal funding for abortion services, something they are morally against.
However, taking away funds from Planned Parenthood could only make the lives of new parents and children worse. While many want to take away its funds over the fear that it helps offer abortions, this is false. Planned Parenthood’s annual report, released in 2014, states that 42 percent of funding is used for testing and treatment of sexually transmitted infections and diseases, 34 percent is used toward contraception, 11 percent is used toward other women’s health issues and nine percent for cancer screening and prevention. Only three percent of yearly funds are used for abortion services.
According to The Washington Post, it has been banned by law in almost all cases for the Planned Parenthood to use federal funding to provide abortion services since 1976. The organization receives money from private donors, foundations or fees to fund abortion services. The primary focus of the organization is providing sexual health services to women, not terminating pregnancies. Such facts beg why should Planned Parenthood be defunded under the accusation of devaluing human life?
The defunding of Planned Parenthood would jeopardize the health of American women. Even though the United States is one of the most developed nations on Earth, it has quite a high number of infant and maternal mortality rates when compared to other industrialized countries. According to the CDC, the U.S. saw an increase in pregnancy-related mortality—in 1987, 7.2 out of every 100,000 American women died during pregnancy. In 2013, this number more than doubled to 17.3 out of every 100,000 women.
The CDC suggested that there is a racial disparity in the issue. Between 2011 and 2013, the pregnancy-related mortality rate was 12.1 for Caucasian women, 40.4 for black women and 16.4 for women of other races. Such varying conditions indicate that there is not equal access to healthcare for women in the country, indicating that in order to have a stable flow of reproduction overall then there should be more health care access across racial populations, something that Planned Parenthood strives to provide. By defunding their services under the fear of abortion, we could instead be directly threatening the lives of pregnant women across the country.
Policies focusing on defunding Planned Parenthood prove irresponsible. According to the Congressional Budget Office, taking away contraceptive access would result in more Medicaid spending. This has proven true in Texas, which has observed more births after it stopped federally funded contraceptive programs.
Not only are reproductive services in our country lacking, but so are services for parents with young children. According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children, full-day child care can cost anywhere from $4,000 to $10,000 per year. The availability of subsidies for low-income and working families is inadequate and does not ensure children have access to high-quality child care. Additionally, employers are not federally mandated to offer paid maternity leave to new mothers. Unpaid leave is a huge disadvantage to families and a huge disincentive toward having children. When American society is built with so many hurdles around reproduction and raising children, the United States could soon be in the same boat as countries such as South Korea, where the future generation is simply not large enough to support their parents and grandparents.
If reproduction should be encouraged, then shouldn’t societal conditions welcome it? Reproduction is a personal choice that should not be oppressed by government or society. All human lives should be valued equally. Do not oppress a life over life, but embrace them both to find a graceful middle where all can be cherished.
