Your recent editorial, (“Family Size Matters,” July 11), suggests that addressing Ohio’s population decline is as simple as encouraging women to have more children.
I find this perspective not only overly simplistic but also woefully out of touch with the realities faced by women and families today.
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The notion that it is easy to get pregnant and have a child ignores the multitude of challenges that women encounter. This is not just a matter of personal choice or moral duty, but of existing in a society that makes raising a family in-credibly difficult. Let’s talk about economic pressures, the lack of adequate healthcare, the soaring costs of childcare, and the systemic barriers that make family planning a complex and often overwhelming decision.
Economic Realities: Raising a child in today’s world is expensive, while families are struggling with stagnant wages and rising living costs. It’s not just a matter of wanting more children; it’s about being able to afford them. Your editorial fails to acknowledge that many families limit their size, or choose not to have children, out of economic necessity, not desire.
Healthcare Access: Reproductive healthcare is another critical issue. Access to affordable and comprehensive healthcare, including prenatal and postnatal care, is not a given. In Ohio, as in many other states, women face significant obstacles in obtaining needed healthcare, which can make the prospect of having more children daunting.
Childcare Crisis: The editorial glosses over the childcare crisis. Quality childcare is prohibitively expensive and often hard to find, while childcare workers are also underpaid and under-resourced. For many families, especially those with both parents working, the lack of affordable childcare options is a significant deterrent to having more children.
Work-Life Balance: The expectation that women should simply have more children also ignores the importance of work-life balance. Women today are juggling careers, education, and family responsibilities. The societal infrastructure to support working mothers is severely lacking, making the idea of expanding families even more challenging.
Systemic Inequities: We must also consider the systemic inequities that affect family planning decisions. Women of color, low-income women, and women in rural areas face additional barriers that are often overlooked in such simplistic calls to action. Addressing these inequities is crucial if we genuinely want to support family growth.
And finally, I’d like to take a moment to tell a personal story about infertility. I very much wanted to be a mother. My husband and I tried to have a baby for years. Seeking fertility care in northwest Ohio was next to impossible. There is only one fertility clinic in Toledo, and patients must travel to Michigan for procedures. That’s what we did. We would travel up to Michigan month after month for procedures including IUI and IVF. I pumped my body full of hormones which took an incredible toll on my physical and mental health. Our insurance did not cover these treatments, so we were forced to pay out of pocket, a privilege that I recognize most people can’t afford. An average IVF procedure costs $15,000 in Ohio. After all that time and money, I was never able to achieve a healthy pregnancy. I’m 41 now and my chances of being a mother get smaller and smaller every day. It has been the most heartbreaking experience of my life.
To suggest that Ohio’s population loss can be solved by simply encouraging larger families is to ignore the structural and societal issues that make family planning a complex decision for so many. Instead of placing the burden on women to single-handedly boost the population, we should focus on creating an environment where families are supported in all their needs — economic, healthcare, childcare, and beyond.
Until we address these fundamental issues, it is irresponsible and dismissive to suggest that women should just forgo their careers and have more children.
It is not as simple as your editorial implies, and to pretend otherwise is a disservice to the women and families of Ohio.
That is why I’m so committed to finding solutions instead of blaming women. We need to focus on policies that attract families to Ohio like paid parental leave, access to affordable prenatal care, eliminating student loan debt, higher wages and better job opportunities, equal pay for equal work, abortion care, fertility treatments covered by health insurance, universal pre-K, affordable childcare, and free and accessible menstrual and family planning products.
Carrie Hartman
President, Toledo City Council
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