Enforcement is the difficult part, as pregnancy is not obvious during the period where getting an abortion is feasible. I think a carrot approach ("We'll give you $5,000 cash right now if you get an abortion") is far better than a stick approach.
As far as the stick approach, maybe a pregnancy test could be required to receive a government benefit check? Found to be pregnant go to jail? Once someone has had a child taken by the state a couple of times in a court of law where she was represented by counsel, I see no reason to allow that person to bring more children into the world.
Where I see it coming into play is this:
1. Woman has first child, is proven to be an unfit parent, state takes away child.
2. Woman has second child, is proven to be an unfit parent, state takes away child.
3. Woman has third child, is proven to be an unfit parent, state takes away child.
4. Woman becomes pregnant for the fourth time ...
This actually happens pretty regularly, a good friend of mine represents women who are having their children taken away by the state. There are a lot of horror stories.
Aside from the trauma to the children, the cost to society is in the tens of thousands of dollars per recalcitrant offender, if not more. And it can be hard to place the children if both parents are habitual drug addicts, there is a good chance that child will have special needs.
So it seems to me to be rational, at some point, for society to say "Your license to bring more children into your sordid world is revoked ..."
Of course the father is also at fault here and I am in favor of getting medieval on him, but unfortunately it is the woman who is giving birth to multiple children who she is not even remotely capable of providing for, creating enormous government financial obligations that we will be paying for in decades to come. The father is most likely in and out of jail, so we can't expect much from him.
One way or another the stream of damaged children from damaged parents has to stop. |
