OPINION: Trump Considers Hitler-Like Baby Bonus
By: Maya Tinajero, Skyline Desk-Chief
ALPINE - According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the total fertility rate in the United States is 1.6 children per woman, a less than 1% increase from the year 2023 which marked a record low. This decline in fertility rates seems to have the White house concerned, as the Trump administration is now considering a $5,000 ‘baby bonus’ to encourage women to have more children.
As a daughter myself, of course I am in favor of anything that is meant to reward or help mothers, but this proposal is sinister, not uplifting.
President Trump isn’t the only “leader” to incentivize mothers. In 1938 Hitler and the Nazis created the “Mother’s Cross” to encourage “pure” German women to increase their number of children. Requirements such as proof of a pure German bloodline, clean health records, and “worthiness” determined whether a mother would be fit to carry the medal. Despite the Trump Administration’s new proposal lacking strict, problematic requirements such as those, there is an eerie similarity between the two.
The Trump Administration has never been quiet about their support of the nuclear family. Conservatives purport to hold the family unit above all else, but that singular unit hardly reflects the reality of most American families who are extremely diverse. Although Trump’s proposal isn’t outwardly limiting, the language does exclude same-sex couples, leading one to ask whether only couples consisting of a mother and father would qualify for the bonus? What about families who use surrogates? A number of questions remain unanswered.
Supporters of Trump’s ‘baby bonus’ such as pronatalists Simone and Malcolm Collins, show troubling elitist ideology. Pronatalists believe that having children benefits society as well as the economy. They also believe that at our current rate, America is at risk of losing social and economic stability. The Collins seem most concerned with birth rates of “high achieving elites” or those who are intellectually and economically productive. The Collins, similar to President Trump, are supporters of in vitro fertilization, however they also believe in genetic testing, which allows for abnormalities within embryos to be identified before being placed into a woman’s uterus. It was also the Collins who proposed a “Mother’s Cross,” correction, a “National Medal of Motherhood” for women who have six or more children.
Although the Collins version of pronatalism is not based on race like eugenics, it is similarly dangerous and perpetuates the age-old idea that all women exist solely to reproduce. In the 1950’s, the average birth rate was 24.27% per 1,000 people according to Macrotrends, and since then there has been a steady and obvious decline. I think it is reasonable to attribute this decline to the fact that teenagers as well as girls in their early twenties are realizing they can do more than pop out babies and have access to various forms of birth control. Isn’t that a good thing?
The concern over the declining birth and fertility rate is understandable. Based on this year’s numbers, people are not having enough babies to replace the population, and thus support our economy, labor force, and social welfare. But besides it’s unsettling similarities to Hitler’s own methods of encouragement, Trump’s ‘baby bonus’ of $5,000 dollars is unlikely to significantly enhance a mother’s economic situation. In 2020, the national average price of childbirth was $13,393 without insurance. Add that to perhaps 18 plus years of groceries, doctors’ visits, and the emotional stress of having a child and $5,000 doesn’t seem like much.
If President Trump really wants to see a baby boom in the country, he should stay away from gross proposals that reflect the worst of humanity. Other policies such as affordable childcare, paid family leave, as well as maternal healthcare are not only more reasonable but less elitist, sexist, and fascist.
