Pelosi Blames Babies for Economic Woes

A mother of five, grandmother of six believes she's found the cure to what ails our sluggish economy: more contraception. In her defense of adding birth control funding to the economic "stimulus" plan, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said on This Week with George Stephanopoulos,

Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for children's health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those - one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.

Yes, there's a lot of bad news about babies being born outside of marriage. And yes, those out-of-wedlock births do cause a strain on state budgets. But Pelosi's proposed solution to that problem is straight from the Planned Parenthood playbook. And it's no solution at all.

In a 2005 column in The Washington Post, Economist Robert J. Samuelson explained why the opposite is true:

It’s hard to be a great power if your population is shriveling. Europe as we know it is going out of business…. Western Europe’s population grows dramatically grayer, projects the U.S. Census Bureau. Now about one-sixth of the population is 65 and older. By 2030, that could be one-fourth and by 2050, almost one-third.

According to the Demographic Winter website,

By the mid-point of this century, 16% of the world’s population will be over 65. By 2040, there will be 400 million elderly Chinese.

If present low birthrates persist, the European Union estimates there will be a continent-wide shortfall of 20 million workers by 2030.

Who will operate the factories and farms in the Europe of the future? Who will develop the natural resources? Where will Russia find the soldiers to guard the frontiers of the largest nation on Earth?

Who will care for a graying population? A burgeoning elderly population combined with a shrinking work force will lead to a train-wreck for state pension systems.

This only skims the surface of the way demographic decline will change the face of civilization. Even the environment will be adversely impacted. With severely strained public budgets, developed nations will no longer be willing to shoulder the costs of industrial clean-up or a reduction of CO2 emissions.

Pelosi's "solution" to our economic "crisis" will have the opposite effect. But even that's not the worst of it. In her striving to bolster our contraceptive culture, she's willing to deny millions of women the very choice that has brought her the most joy. She is the same woman who once proclaimed, "Nothing in my life will ever, ever compare to being a mom."

We've seen this before. Hostility toward babies born in less than ideal circumstances. It's the mindset of Pharaoh. The mindset of Herod. And to what end? If Pelosi's plan succeeds, who won't be born? Babies like this one.

Comments

[Funkiplanet]

Thanks for posting this. It's really quite amazing how bad some ideas are. I am embarrassed for Miss Pelosi and her "ideas".

[HlthEd]

I have enjoyed this website immensely, but I have some concerns about this post. As a Christian and a health educator working in communities I am not surprised by your take on Pelosi's statements or the contraceptive issue, however I am saddened by it.
I would prefer to call the occurrence of unplanned out-of-wedlock births something besides "bad news". This has been an issue for all of history (Remember when people found out about Mary being pregnant in the Bible??) so it isn't really "news". While I would love to think that everyone will save sex for marriage, we need to be honest about the fact that it is just not happening. Did you know that over 50% of 14 year old's in the US are sexually active? Devastating? Yes, by all means. Costly for government programs? Yes! Something must be done. Clearly abstinence education is not working. We have to move beyond the ideal (because it is ideal, it is how God designed it to be) and face sin in the world by meet people where they are, and help them!
I truly believe that comprehensive sex education in schools and in communities would delay the onset of becoming sexually active. In our sad, sinful reality most people are going to become sexually active before marriage and are likely to end up pregnant and in no situation to raise the child. This is why we need to provide access to effective and affordable contraception. Creating access in this way would greatly reduce the number of abortions happening in our country. Wouldn't we rather give people knowledge and thus empowerment to make the right choices and as a result, delay onset of sexual activity? Then when that time of sexual activity does come we will be protecting our future generations by preventing unplanned pregnancy. I say that this will protect our future generations because these unplanned out-of-wedlock, and often teen moms rarely go on to finish high school, much less college and often do not become productive members of society. Then as a result their children suffer and do not have the support and sadly even sometimes the food that they need (yes that happens, here in America). There are exceptions and happy endings to some of these stories, but after years of working with these people it is definitely not the norm! The current "system" to aid these people does not do its job well now and many don't even qualify for assistance! Why would you not want to help these women by giving the the resources they need to plan their pregnancies. Yes- start a family, but do it when you are better equipped- I don't mean when you've bought a house & have saved for the child's college education. I mean when you have a drivers license to get to a clinic for prenatal care, a high school diploma, and a job. Then when their more reliable method of contraception fails, because some will, we will have a "system" that isn't flooded and will actually work! Contraception can make that happen. Abortion is NOT contraception. So, I think Pelosi's solution is a solution. Yes, of course I wish it wasn't with Planned Parenthood! However, they do a whole lot more than abortions. Besides, you would be amazed at how many of these women who find themselves with unplanned, out-of-wedlock pregnancies would NEVER consider abortion as an option! We as Christians have to understand that the lost, and even many who are saved are not going to be sinless, they are not going to remain abstinent. We cannot continue to ignore this.
As for the comment about Pelosi denying millions of women "the very choice that has brought her the most joy"... Did you ever think about the fact that it was a CHOICE?! If these millions of women do not have access to reliable contraception it isn't really a choice- they are NOT choosing to become mothers. Yes, they choose to become sexually active, which I think should mean choosing to accept whatever comes out of that decision (i.e. motherhood), but if they are not properly educated about sex then they are not aware of all the possible consequences of those choices. Then comes the part of about the joy of motherhood... Often these women faced with unplanned pregnancy do not find joy in it- eventually several do, but not all. Lastly, I think the key here is that contraception does not deny women the opportunity to be a mother, but rather it provides them with the opportunity to plan when they can are ready to be the best mom they can be- not perfect, but perhaps prepared- after having time to plan for becoming a mother.