Pro-Life...High Cost of Childbirth/Delivery

[Xantippe]

What can we do on an on going basis to help women who choose to keep their baby?

Well, one thing that comes to mind is that single men that keep saying that they would NEVER, EVER marry a single mother (no matter how virtuous and industrious the mother or how long ago the child was born), can help a whole bunch by zipping their lips. I hear that very frequently on CAF (often from guys that do not have the ladies lined up around the corner), and I wonder if the guys that say that have ever considered how exactly it sounds to a single pregnant woman who is considering abortion and wondering if having a baby will wreck her life forever.

It doesn’t do a whole lot of good to say, at the same time, “You need to have the baby!” and “But I will never forgive you for having had a baby.”

 

[simpleas]

Well, one thing that comes to mind is that single men that keep saying that they would NEVER, EVER marry a single mother (no matter how virtuous and industrious the mother or how long ago the child was born), can help a whole bunch by zipping their lips. I hear that very frequently on CAF (often from guys that do not have the ladies lined up around the corner), and I wonder if the guys that say that have ever considered how exactly it sounds to a single pregnant woman who is considering abortion and wondering if having a baby will wreck her life forever.

It doesn’t do a whole lot of good to say, at the same time, “You need to have the baby!” and “But I will never forgive you for having had a baby.”

Practising catholic men think like this?

 

[simpleas]

I never knew women had to pay for childbirth…of course we have the NHS here and so it would be funded by the tax payer, I don’t understand why the US doesn’t have something similar, or does it?
How do the poorer of society cope in the US? No one should have to pay to give birth, enough tax is payed once a person is able to work…

Money is the root of all evil…

 

[Xantippe]

Practising catholic men think like this?

They don’t literally say the last thing (I will never forgive you for having had a baby), but it’s not rare to see single guys on CAF saying they would never, ever marry a single mother.

It’s especially annoying from the guys with a “past” of their own.

 

[Xantippe]

I never knew women had to pay for childbirth…of course we have the NHS here and so it would be funded by the tax payer, I don’t understand why the US doesn’t have something similar, or does it?
How do the poorer of society cope in the US? No one should have to pay to give birth, enough tax is payed once a person is able to work…

Money is the root of all evil…

The poor in the US have federally-funded labor and delivery (and that covers about half of all births in the US). Slightly higher income people (who aren’t eligible for Medicaid but don’t have assets) can just default on their hospital bills and either have them written off or declare bankruptcy on them.

Better off people in the US usually have private insurance or can pay without insurance.

The people affected by the cost of labor and delivery are people right in the middle who have some assets but don’t have good insurance.

But I have to add that things have changed a lot in the last several years, so while what I said was definitely true 5+ years ago, it’s not necessarily true today.

 

[simpleas]

The poor in the US have federally-funded labor and delivery (and that covers about half of all births in the US). Slightly higher income people (who aren’t eligible for Medicaid but don’t have assets) can just default on their hospital bills and either have them written off or declare bankruptcy on them.

Better off people in the US usually have private insurance or can pay without insurance.

The people affected by the cost of labor and delivery are people right in the middle who have some assets but don’t have good insurance.

But I have to add that things have changed a lot in the last several years, so while what I said was definitely true 5+ years ago, it’s not necessarily true today.

Thanks.

 

[randomuser]

Because our dignity as humans is not contingent on the size of our parents wallet.

If people followed the Gospels and shared what they are blessed with, everyone would have enough, and greed wouldn’t factor in. You have to have patients to begin with to over-charge them, right?
The fact remains, the Pro-Life movement is about getting people the right to be BORN. Period.

There are plenty of activists for healthcare reform. Join in with them.

I’m flabbergasted that in the 43 years since Roe vs. Wade legalized the murder of unborn children, Feminists For Life is essentially the only major pro-life organization that regards the high cost of childbirth and delivery an integral part of the pro-life cause.

The fact remains, once you have secured the right to life, you need to have secure delivery of that person out of the womb. It’s not rocket science: are we not fighting for the right to be born? The right to get to the end of those nine months without having Planned Parenthood make sautee out of your limbs?

And, no, there aren’t plenty of activists working to secure lower, more reasonably priced deliveries of those babies. You’ve got Feminists For Life, and you’ve got Bernie, and that’s about it.

 

[randomuser]

Yes true, But we’ve got to get it illegal to abort first. That’s the front line of Pro-Lifers.
Social Justice issues naturally follow though, I agree.

The front line of pro-lifers is simply getting to be born. I would think securing safe and affordable childbirth would send a huge message to the pro-abortion/pro-murder crowd that those who choose life aren’t also choosing a lifetime of bankruptcy and debt for doing the right thing.

 

[randomuser]

What can we do on an on going basis to help women who choose to keep their baby?

Make childbirth and delivery more affordable, that’s what. Make it an essential part of the pro-life cause like how the pro-life organization Feminists For Life (correctly) regards pro-life a healthcare issue first and foremost.

 

[Jeanne_S]

Fear is the biggest factor in leading women to choose abortion.Fear for a myriad of reasons,economic,social,personal relationships,etc.The first step n helping a woman dealing with an unexpected pregnancy is to get her to realize the humanity of her unborn baby.To their credit the K of C’s nationwide have used their funds to put into place an effort to provide ultrasound machines in crisis pregnancy centers.75% of all women,considering abortion have a change o heart after seeing their babies via an ultrasound picture.Oncecthis is accomplished,then following up with prenatal/ postnatal support will vastly lessen the occoruance of abortion.
Abortion is counterintuitive to a woman’s’ nature,if these women can bond with their babies,even as early as four weeks,when they can see their babies developing,sometimes even see their heart beating,most will choose life.

 

[Anglewannabe]

What can we do on an on going basis to help women who choose to keep their baby?

We can start making the father’s of these children pay. It aggravates me to think single mothers need to turn to socially funded programs for help while the father gets off scot free. And my taxes are paying for it. Nowadays, it is extremely easy to know who the father is through testing.

 

[Anglewannabe]

Well, one thing that comes to mind is that single men that keep saying that they would NEVER, EVER marry a single mother (no matter how virtuous and industrious the mother or how long ago the child was born), can help a whole bunch by zipping their lips. I hear that very frequently on CAF (often from guys that do not have the ladies lined up around the corner), and I wonder if the guys that say that have ever considered how exactly it sounds to a single pregnant woman who is considering abortion and wondering if having a baby will wreck her life forever.

It doesn’t do a whole lot of good to say, at the same time, “You need to have the baby!” and “But I will never forgive you for having had a baby.”

Well… The woman can always give her baby up for adoption. I only agree with you to a certain extent if those men are fathers. But honestly, as a single women with no kids, I can TOTALLY understand not wanting to date someone with kids.

 

[Jeanne_S]

We can start making the father’s of these children pay. It aggravates me to think single mothers need to turn to socially funded programs for help while the father gets off scot free. And my taxes are paying for it. Nowadays, it is extremely easy to know who the father is through testing.

This is soooo true!!

 

[Xantippe]

Well… **The woman can always give her baby up for adoption. ** I only agree with you to a certain extent if those men are fathers. But honestly, as a single women with no kids, I can TOTALLY understand not wanting to date someone with kids.

That doesn’t improve things that much from the mother’s point of view–it means that it’s still necessary to choose between raising a child and having a future of one’s own.

Also, it’s not so easy to say “just adopt”–while that works for healthy white infants, not all infants are either healthy or of a “desirable” ethnicity.

I am not sure how credible these numbers are, but it doesn’t look like the US is able to absorb all children born outside wedlock through adoption.

"There are 423,773 children in the U.S. foster care system; 114,556 of these children are available for adoption. Their birth parent’s legal rights have been permanently terminated and children are left without a family.

"More children become available for adoption each year than are adopted. In 2009, 69,947 children had parental rights terminated by the courts, yet only 57,466 were adopted.
Children often wait three years or more to be adopted, move three or more times in foster care and often are separated from siblings. The average age of waiting children is 8 years old.

“Last year, 29,471 children turned 18 and left the foster care system without an adoptive family.”

davethomasfoundation.org/news_story/national-adoption-month-foster-care-adoption-statistics/

Meanwhile, there are nearly 4 million babies born every year in the US, about 2 in 5 of which are born out of wedlock.

cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/births.htm

That would be an enormous number of babies to place every year with married families. As it is, the total number of adoptions every year in the US is a small fraction of that (136,000 in 2008).

While adoption might be the answer for an individual person, it’s not a society-wide answer–there just aren’t enough homes and a lot of people are people are skittish about the complications of doing domestic adoption.

 

[gardenswithkids]

Make childbirth and delivery more affordable, that’s what. Make it an essential part of the pro-life cause like how the pro-life organization Feminists For Life (correctly) regards pro-life a healthcare issue first and foremost.

Labor and delivery hasn’t always been as unaffordable to many middle class women and working families as it is now. Insurance rates have risen dramatically, so people often choose less expensive plans with higher co-pays and higher deductibles just to keep their premiums more affordable. That means that many middle class women with insurance who previously would have paid very little out of pocket for having a baby now have to pay much more before their insurance covers any of the cost.

My health care insurance pretty much stinks now, but it didn’t always. I now pay higher premiums, higher co-pays, higher deductibles–and with all that, I didn’t get to keep either my insurance or my doctor. In the past, women with insurance paid far less out of pocket to deliver a baby than they do now. Politicians’ attempts to make health care more affordable has had the *exact opposite *effect for many of us. Health care cost is an issue, but historically in the US health care costs tend to rise rather dramatically when the government gets involved.

 

[jaimeleglise]

Thank you very much everyone for your thoughtful responses.

 

[Xantippe]

Labor and delivery hasn’t always been as unaffordable to many middle class women and working families as it is now.

Yes. I believe I was told that when I was born in 1975, my parents (who were totally uninsured) paid $400 total for labor and delivery.

Even allowing for inflation, it’s way more expensive now. (I ran it through an online inflation calculator, and it came out $1,762.)

Things have changed.

 

[Xantippe]

randomuser,

Come to think of it, I thought we had the ACA/Obamacare and non-stop rainbows and bunnies with regard to health insurance.

There shouldn’t be anybody in the US having any health insurance problems anymore.

 

[randomuser]

randomuser,

Come to think of it, I thought we had the ACA/Obamacare and non-stop rainbows and bunnies with regard to health insurance.

There shouldn’t be anybody in the US having any health insurance problems anymore.

Non sequitur.

The high cost of childbirth/delivery is a pro-life issue, not a political issue. (See Feminists For Life’s accomplishments - feministsforlife.org/accomplishments/ )

 

[Xantippe]

Non sequitur.

The high cost of childbirth/delivery is a pro-life issue, not a political issue. (See Feminists For Life’s accomplishments - feministsforlife.org/accomplishments/ )

But there shouldn’t be any problems at all because ACA.

Are you suggesting that the ACA was a bit of a flop?