Why Is California Penalizing Poor Women for Wanting to Be Parents?

[badtoworse]

106. The issue is whether you were already receiving CalWORKS when you had additional children

If you already had children when circumstances forced you to seek state aid, I would say that, unfortunately, things like that can happen to good people. You would have my sympathy.

Once you are in the program, it's a very different situation. You wouldn't be in CalWORKS unless you lacked the means to care for the children you already have. If you have more children after that, I would say that you are irresponsible and selfish. You're irresponsible because you're ignoring the fact that the additional children will put demands on your limited resources and all of your children will be the worse for it. I would say you're selfish because (rape excepted) you got pregnant by putting your own gratification ahead of the welfare of your kids.

I see parenting as a very high responsibility and if you can't care for your children, you have an obligation to do whatever it takes to avoid getting pregnant, including not having sex. As far as the affluent having unplanned pregnancies, I don't think that is good either. Presumably, the children will be well taken care of economically, but the question I would ask is how the parents feel about and deal with their unplanned children. Becoming a parent is life changing and if you weren't intending to do it, will you resent the impact that children are having on your lifestyle? If so, the resentment will almost certainly have negative impacts on the child's upbringing and probably the marriage as well. I don't think you can generalize about that - it's a complex matter and every situation will be different. My own view is that children should be conceived because they are wanted.