“President Trump wants to make America the best place to have a baby.”
No, he and the republicans want to make America the place where you’re forced to have the baby. After that they don’t give a shit about the baby or the mother.
"And when UNICEF last year rated several dozen nations for child well-being, the scores for the United States were terrible, way behind the world leaders: the Netherlands, Denmark, and France."
I take issue with how this is stated. The better framing is - United States is terrible and way behind even second tier nations: Malta, Latvia, Lithuania, and Chile.
Jonathan, Another of your excellent pieces of reporting on the this topic currently and its recent history. At this point, it's laughable that Trump and the Republicans are trying to stop fraud, in Trump, we have the all-time greatest corruption and fraud in our history being perpetrated and the Republicans are enabling it. The Republicans and Trump don't care about these things because they cater to the wealthy, and they don't need any of this stuff, especially if it costs them just one of their precious dollars. However, it's not just one man or one party that determines are approach to these matters, it's all of us. We have done this one step forward one step back routine for generations now. We are derelict in our duty as citizens, it's 2026 for Crist sakes, and we still cannot figure out what's best for our kids and their mothers. We're more than a divided country, we a bunch of ignorant fools.
Griswold v Connecticut will be the next SCOTUS precedent to fall under the Thomas attack on the 14th Amendment. What will they do next? Require all women to be artificially inseminated with Elon's sperm?
The reason for targeting programs that would benefit mothers that need health care assistance and food assistance, is that those programs are perceived to be more used by people of color than by whites. I don’t know if that perception is true, but all those white folks at Trump’s sleep-fest, are the MAGA folks that would believe that to be true. There was a lot of statements about young women (especially teenagers) not having as many babies as in the past, and instead of saying this was a good thing, there was talk about teenage boys having lower sperm counts (is this part of their physicals now?). The gist I got from this and other stuff like this from this regime, is that the group they are worried about being “under-babied” was white women. They’re worried about becoming the minority. As an older white woman, I think it’s long past time where these older white men realize that their time in power is winding down and they should sit down and start listening to the rest of us.
Since one of Trump's superpowers is projection, no one should be surprised he has the US well on it's way to being a shithole country. The only way it stops is to destroy the GOP with their cowardly capitulation to him.
That's Louisiana Steve. Mississippi and Alabama are starting to look like a different story. As far as I'm concerned, the GOP and it's MAGA faction all need to be destroyed from the nation's capital to every single state capital.
Get it. Actually if I had gone through all the prior comments I probably would have not mentioned it......hope you're right however not holding my breath.....this is just the cycle we have re anything not white christian male that has existed just in time for the 250 anniversary Trump is salivating to celebrate.
Children are critical to our nation. I continually get ticked off (that’s putting it mildly) that so many in the “pro-life” movement seem to forget what happens to the child and its family after birth. It’s disgusting
I have, as a semi-retired person, been working in the child care industry since 2017. Part of that was as a temp worker in a daycare. These places have adult to child ratios, that are state mandated, that they have to adhere to if they want to keep their license. For example, in New York, if you have eight children in an infant room at a daycare, you need at least two adults in the room at all times. It doesn’t matter if some baby is sick and doesn’t show up. Now you have seven babies, but you still need two adults. Six babies tomorrow? You still need two adults. Paid adults. It isn’t until you have four or less babies in the room that you can drop that second adult. And as it was pointed out in the article, we are talking about enrollment, not attendance. If you have five babies enrolled in that room, whether they show up or not, you need two adults. Maybe people who have never taken care of their own children at any point should not be allowed to set child care policy.
I appreciate the focus on maternal health and the needs in maternity. But we need to stop reporting and commenting on this issue from the viewpoint of a must-do list of government-provided services for families as the way to achieve better birthrates. Women who choose to put their uteruses into production know what they need, and it is definitely not one-size-fits-all as most government programs tend to be. What fertile women need is; 1) freedom to govern her own body, especially whether to have children, and how many, and to do so without any recrimination of her choice in society or politics; 2) affordable, accessable healthcare that is unique in an ob/gyn setting and birth center near a critical care hospital; 3) universal, stand-alone family medical leave for birth that are locally-relevant, including partial pay and up to nine months time off for the baby's main caregiver, 8 weeks for the partner-parent; 4) nutritional support in the home for up to two years for locally-relevant low income households; 5) child care credit via tax deduction on sliding scale by income; 6) well-funded, multi-culural relevant preschool and grade school with a teacher and assistant in every class, every child fed a nutririous lunch; 6) a federal and/or state loan program for buying a home based on occupational history and income, with sliding scale for assisted down payments, and affordable, safe rentals otherwise. If society would just see the wisdom of making these investments, women will choose to have babies. Otherwise, you can just deal with an economically devastating and socially shrinking population and a horribly wasted opportunity. Whatever. But stop throwing pathetic, insulting maternal health and maternity ideas against the wall in opposition to the Orange Menace's intentions to disempower women into staying home, hoping that something will stick. It won't. Only items 1-6, above, will stick.
Upon reading the stats - one has to wonder - how stupid are these voters. You can believe in a party only so long before you have to realize that they are lying to you. We have accepted obvious lies for too long - and with the government controlling the press, it will continue to dumb us up. Keep those women barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen - listening to their red neck husbands that work overtime and stress over not making ends meet. KEEP EM STUPID. Over 30% of Louisiana voters are black - yet Mike Johnson cuts health care and federal assistance and voting rights. And you can tell that Trump is lying - he opens his mouth
So tired of seeing Jabba the Nut wedged into that chair and desk in the Oval with all his sycophants planted around him. Hopefully Luke shows up soon.
Trump himself was raised in the US, so evidence right there the US has what it takes to raise assholes and fools.
Are we missing when barbers were doctors and where only the fittest survived.
No vaccines no handouts except to the town drunk happily humiliated for a quarter.
Need more focus on men. Even deadbeat dads should be paying child support.
This is a very well-written article! Thank you, Jonathan!
“President Trump wants to make America the best place to have a baby.”
No, he and the republicans want to make America the place where you’re forced to have the baby. After that they don’t give a shit about the baby or the mother.
Thus most accurate to call the movement pro forced birth rather than pro life.
"And when UNICEF last year rated several dozen nations for child well-being, the scores for the United States were terrible, way behind the world leaders: the Netherlands, Denmark, and France."
I take issue with how this is stated. The better framing is - United States is terrible and way behind even second tier nations: Malta, Latvia, Lithuania, and Chile.
Jonathan, Another of your excellent pieces of reporting on the this topic currently and its recent history. At this point, it's laughable that Trump and the Republicans are trying to stop fraud, in Trump, we have the all-time greatest corruption and fraud in our history being perpetrated and the Republicans are enabling it. The Republicans and Trump don't care about these things because they cater to the wealthy, and they don't need any of this stuff, especially if it costs them just one of their precious dollars. However, it's not just one man or one party that determines are approach to these matters, it's all of us. We have done this one step forward one step back routine for generations now. We are derelict in our duty as citizens, it's 2026 for Crist sakes, and we still cannot figure out what's best for our kids and their mothers. We're more than a divided country, we a bunch of ignorant fools.
Griswold v Connecticut will be the next SCOTUS precedent to fall under the Thomas attack on the 14th Amendment. What will they do next? Require all women to be artificially inseminated with Elon's sperm?
Project 2025 already talks about restricting access to contraception.
Thank you, Mr. Cohn. All due respect, I don’t think whether djt is asleep or awake makes any difference when it comes to the cuts.
But it’s always worth pointing it out because he repeatedly called Biden “sleepy Joe”. The real truth is it was always Don who was sleepy.
The reason for targeting programs that would benefit mothers that need health care assistance and food assistance, is that those programs are perceived to be more used by people of color than by whites. I don’t know if that perception is true, but all those white folks at Trump’s sleep-fest, are the MAGA folks that would believe that to be true. There was a lot of statements about young women (especially teenagers) not having as many babies as in the past, and instead of saying this was a good thing, there was talk about teenage boys having lower sperm counts (is this part of their physicals now?). The gist I got from this and other stuff like this from this regime, is that the group they are worried about being “under-babied” was white women. They’re worried about becoming the minority. As an older white woman, I think it’s long past time where these older white men realize that their time in power is winding down and they should sit down and start listening to the rest of us.
Since one of Trump's superpowers is projection, no one should be surprised he has the US well on it's way to being a shithole country. The only way it stops is to destroy the GOP with their cowardly capitulation to him.
If by GOP you mean Congress, Colleen…..I would add in Trump voters…see Cassidy and primary loss, instead of capitulation more likely adoration.
That's Louisiana Steve. Mississippi and Alabama are starting to look like a different story. As far as I'm concerned, the GOP and it's MAGA faction all need to be destroyed from the nation's capital to every single state capital.
Get it. Actually if I had gone through all the prior comments I probably would have not mentioned it......hope you're right however not holding my breath.....this is just the cycle we have re anything not white christian male that has existed just in time for the 250 anniversary Trump is salivating to celebrate.
Children are critical to our nation. I continually get ticked off (that’s putting it mildly) that so many in the “pro-life” movement seem to forget what happens to the child and its family after birth. It’s disgusting
That's because they're not really "pro-life."
I have, as a semi-retired person, been working in the child care industry since 2017. Part of that was as a temp worker in a daycare. These places have adult to child ratios, that are state mandated, that they have to adhere to if they want to keep their license. For example, in New York, if you have eight children in an infant room at a daycare, you need at least two adults in the room at all times. It doesn’t matter if some baby is sick and doesn’t show up. Now you have seven babies, but you still need two adults. Six babies tomorrow? You still need two adults. Paid adults. It isn’t until you have four or less babies in the room that you can drop that second adult. And as it was pointed out in the article, we are talking about enrollment, not attendance. If you have five babies enrolled in that room, whether they show up or not, you need two adults. Maybe people who have never taken care of their own children at any point should not be allowed to set child care policy.
I appreciate the focus on maternal health and the needs in maternity. But we need to stop reporting and commenting on this issue from the viewpoint of a must-do list of government-provided services for families as the way to achieve better birthrates. Women who choose to put their uteruses into production know what they need, and it is definitely not one-size-fits-all as most government programs tend to be. What fertile women need is; 1) freedom to govern her own body, especially whether to have children, and how many, and to do so without any recrimination of her choice in society or politics; 2) affordable, accessable healthcare that is unique in an ob/gyn setting and birth center near a critical care hospital; 3) universal, stand-alone family medical leave for birth that are locally-relevant, including partial pay and up to nine months time off for the baby's main caregiver, 8 weeks for the partner-parent; 4) nutritional support in the home for up to two years for locally-relevant low income households; 5) child care credit via tax deduction on sliding scale by income; 6) well-funded, multi-culural relevant preschool and grade school with a teacher and assistant in every class, every child fed a nutririous lunch; 6) a federal and/or state loan program for buying a home based on occupational history and income, with sliding scale for assisted down payments, and affordable, safe rentals otherwise. If society would just see the wisdom of making these investments, women will choose to have babies. Otherwise, you can just deal with an economically devastating and socially shrinking population and a horribly wasted opportunity. Whatever. But stop throwing pathetic, insulting maternal health and maternity ideas against the wall in opposition to the Orange Menace's intentions to disempower women into staying home, hoping that something will stick. It won't. Only items 1-6, above, will stick.
Upon reading the stats - one has to wonder - how stupid are these voters. You can believe in a party only so long before you have to realize that they are lying to you. We have accepted obvious lies for too long - and with the government controlling the press, it will continue to dumb us up. Keep those women barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen - listening to their red neck husbands that work overtime and stress over not making ends meet. KEEP EM STUPID. Over 30% of Louisiana voters are black - yet Mike Johnson cuts health care and federal assistance and voting rights. And you can tell that Trump is lying - he opens his mouth