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> This March, a state legislator in Arkansas proposed a bill that would pay unwed, low-income mothers on Medicaid $2,500 to get an IUD. That echoes a not-so-dis
by chime 11y ago
> This March, a state legislator in Arkansas proposed a bill that would pay unwed, low-income mothers on Medicaid $2,500 to get an IUD. That echoes a not-so-distant controversy over the Norplant hormonal implant. After it hit the market in 1991, legislators in more than a dozen states introduced bills that would have pushed women into getting the implant as a condition of welfare, in lieu of jail time, or in exchange for cash... If more policymakers try to contort the effectiveness of IUDs into a tool for social engineering or make its use a condition for state support, the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation may find itself needing to fund yet another battle—to ensure that a woman not only has access to an IUD, but that it is her choice to get one.
No doubt the Norplant case is terrible but I am unable to see the problem with offering low-income women a monetary incentive to get an IUD. It is reversible with no permanent side-effects. They can use the funds to get out of debt or get education. Even if they waste it on luxury goods, isn't it better than more impoverished children? Demographically, I can see how it will disincentivize a higher portion of minorities from having children but it might end up having a much better effect on their lives in the long-term if instead of remaining childless, more women just have children when they are older and better capable of providing for them.
- steve19 11y agoThe problem arises, as explained to me by a woman when I made the same point, is woman could be coerced to get an implant in order to get cash for her partner or parents etc.
- cperciva 11y agoa woman could be coerced to get an implant in order to get cash for her partner or parents etc While I recognize the concern, I think it's rather infantilizing to take a choice away from women because of a concern that they will be subject to coercion and unwilling to avail themselves of the protections afforded by the criminal justice system. Consider an analogous situation with men instead of women: Men are coerced into enlisting in the US military in order to gain cash for their partners and parents. Should the answer be to transform the US military into an unpaid volunteer force?
- steve19 11y agoyes, but consider the political environment. there are already people who complain bitterly about the military incentives (after they have taken and spent the money or gotten the education they wanted)... but no political groups are going to be taking up thier cause.
- jonah 11y agoSo, why don't they just subsidize the cost of the IUD - and fund marketing for the program - instead of a large cash payment? That would take care of the accessibility issue without being such blatant population control.