Free Contraception for women

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Purple

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It was announced in the Budget that free contraception will be made available for women between 17 and 25.
Good news, I think. It would be better if it was available for women of every age but there is a quite bizarre article in today's Irish Times by Finn McRedmond saying that "It ought not be thought radical to suggest that women will continue to lack reproductive freedom so long as the cost of childcare precludes anyone from starting a family on account of their financial circumstances." It's a remarkable statement and a remarkable argument, that the State should provide the resourced to anyone and everyone who wants to have children or else those people aren't really 'free'.

It seems that in a liberal society nobody should have to take financial responsibility for the children they have. Speaking as a liberal I find that sort of thinking just bonkers and grist to the mill of conservatives who say that liberals are crazy because in this case they are right; this is a crazy idea. Stupid. Daft. Nuts. Finn should have been laughed out of the editors office and told that the Irish Times isn't some First Year college newsletter.
 
Lack of financial resources curtails many freedoms.

Although our society today is much wealthier than at any time in the past, the structure of society today makes having children hugely expensive. The cost of housing, childcare, education etc. By contrast the same structure of society makes consumer goods cheaper than ever, food, cars holidays.
 
So should we all be able to drop sprogs and expect someone else to pay for them?
 
Purple said:
So should we all be able to drop sprogs and expect someone else to pay for them?
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We could if we wanted to change several of our economic policies to favour lower housing costs lower costs of child rearing.

For example the individualisation of tax credits introduced by Charlie McCreevy could be reversed.

I am not advocating that, just pointing out that it would go some way to restructure the economy in favour of child rearing.
 
Purple said:
So should we all be able to drop sprogs and expect someone else to pay for them?
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The reality is that the state will always be the funder of last resort for kids, as it is for banks. Free contraception is a great idea to mitigate against this.
 
cremeegg said:
We could if we wanted to change several of our economic policies to favour lower housing costs lower costs of child rearing.

For example the individualisation of tax credits introduced by Charlie McCreevy could be reversed.

I am not advocating that, just pointing out that it would go some way to restructure the economy in favour of child rearing.
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Not much use for single parents.
My issue with the article is that it attempts to shift the responsibility for paying for children entirely onto the State.
 
time to plan said:
The reality is that the state will always be the funder of last resort for kids, as it is for banks. Free contraception is a great idea to mitigate against this.
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I agree. I don't think it should be the funder of first resort., as Finn suggests.
 
When it comes to something like contraception things become a little heated in Ireland (no pun or offence meant). Back in the 1980's I used to do a monthly collection amongst my work colleagues to support a deserving international charitable organisation. This organisation used (and still does) publish the amounts spent in anti-famine (millions), irrigation (millions), food (millions), education (millions) etc. Some of my colleagues refused to contribute after they learned that the organisation was supplying a few grand to aid contraception (condoms) in Africa.
 
Leper said:
Some of my colleagues refused to contribute after they learned that the organisation was supplying a few grand to aid contraception (condoms) in Africa.
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Thankfully things have changed since then and, for the most part, women aren't second class citizens anymore.
 
Purple said:
It was announced in the Budget that free contraception will be made available for women between 17 and 25.
Good news, I think. It would be better if it was available for women of every age but there is a quite bizarre article in today's Irish Times by Finn McRedmond saying that "It ought not be thought radical to suggest that women will continue to lack reproductive freedom so long as the cost of childcare precludes anyone from starting a family on account of their financial circumstances." It's a remarkable statement and a remarkable argument, that the State should provide the resourced to anyone and everyone who wants to have children or else those people aren't really 'free'.

It seems that in a liberal society nobody should have to take financial responsibility for the children they have. Speaking as a liberal I find that sort of thinking just bonkers and grist to the mill of conservatives who say that liberals are crazy because in this case they are right; this is a crazy idea. Stupid. Daft. Nuts. Finn should have been laughed out of the editors office and told that the Irish Times isn't some First Year college newsletter.
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The reality is that the world, to a certain degree, has changed. Child minding wasn't an issue 40 years ago, as the mother mostly stayed at home and looked after the kids. Now, women have careers outside of the home but the social structures required to facilitate that have not kept up with that change. You also had few, if any, single parent families back then as divorce was not an option and unmarried mothers, well, we all know what happened them.

So people in their 20s and 30s now often have choices to make, career against children, income against children, getting a mortgage against children. If we as a society are not prepared to invest in childcare and our childrens developement then eventually, birth rate will fall, population will fall and in the end, we will run out of people to earn, pay taxes and keep the lights on.

Not saying the state shoud pay all of it, people need to take responsibility for their actions but the state should be prepared to invest to support how society has changed.

Or we tell which ever one of the parents earns the least to stay at home and mind the kids. And that, quite possibly, will be the woman based on the gender pay gap
 
Peanuts20 said:
Or we tell which ever one of the parents earns the least to stay at home and mind the kids. And that, quite possibly, will be the woman based on the gender pay gap
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Yes, but that's a choice they make, not aa societal construct or an imbalance in the law.
 
Purple said:
One or the other parent usually needs to make it and in most cases the mother chooses to take on that role.
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Agreed, and that is what happened in my own family but is it right? Look at other countries such as Sweden where there is a better state funded child care and paternity leave system. What we have in Ireland is a dated, half way house, that doesn't work
 
WolfeTone said:
And in turn, if things settle down with this Covid virus, we can duly expect a second wave of immigration on par with the early 2000's.
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Are 9 countries just about to join the EU?
If not then I very much doubt you are correct.
 
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