Correction, that's not "conservative popular opinion". As with many surprisingly conservative elements of Dutch law and culture, it's the result of the coalitio

Correction, that's not "conservative popular opinion". As with many surprisingly conservative elements of Dutch law and culture, it's the result of the coalition-based politics where "non-essential" concessions are made to the (socially, not fiscally) conservative minority. Basically the "stuff that isn't worth fighting an election over". See also: drugs (we're now falling behind, and even moving backwards), opening hours (most of the country still shuts down on Sundays), or to give a recently newsworthy example: insulting the royal family being illegal. Mix that with the dominant right-wing urge to "privatise all the things", and subsidised child care gets happily thrown under the bus by various coalition governments, despite what the majority of the population actually wants.