ON Topic
I find the act of "voluntary" sterilization-temporary or otherwise, in order to receive money to care for one's child to be heinous in the extreme. It is a subtle form of coercion and a huge form of gender discrimination. An unethical attempt at subjugating women under the guise of "saving money". It is a blatant strike to enforce someone else's idea of morality upon others.
I am not sure what is the distinction between temporary sterilization and some other forms of birth control... ie IUD or that injectable device that goes under the skin and provides 6 months of protection... that makes it so horrible
I cannot speak for others, but have personally endorsed and wondered how a similar approach could be applied to men...who I agree are really the bigger part of the problem.. and so do not see how it is inherently an example of gender discrimination.
I think that life in general subjugates people. As you become adult and need to take care of yourself come what may... and then need to take care of a family... come what may... we are mostly all subjugated to some degree.
I personally do not see the proposal as an specific attack on women. Instead I see it as a general reaction that very many people have to the idea of supporting reckless and ill-considered behavior of others of any gender.
I have separately posted (a admittedly poorly expressed thought) that if one is concerned to save government expense, there would be many more effective areas to consider for that purpose
It does not seem to me that the proposal is in any way designed to enforce a view of morality... except in so far as one might feel there is a moral compulsion to plan your family so that you can take care of your children. (to the extent possible within the uncertainty of life-- and specifically adding that this proposal is not-- and should not be targeted at people who fall into an unfortunate situation already having children as opposed to people who are not capable of caring for children and yet persist in having those children,,,, to the extent that there are such people... a circumstance that Julia has argued as rare... and therefore also a rare circumstance that this proposal would be applied.
Finally, I would like to propose the idea that the experiences of Julia, Scout, and the other women on this board may not be entirely representative of the the population as a whole. I suspect it is fair to say the the large majority of people who post on this board (especially including myself) have little awareness of the nature of life for those that live on the margins of our society.
