I haven’t really posted here much because I’ve been having a block on reading and writing lately. I just haven’t felt inspired, but today, I’d like to post a little something. I haven’t read the entire thing, but a post on Reddit from about six months ago caught my attention today.
In case you aren’t interested in reading the post (linked above), let me summarize it for you:
The poster requested people to change his/her view about WIC. The viewpoint is simple: WIC should be changed so that rather than provide nutritious food for women, infants, and children, it provides free abortions to low-income pregnant women. There’s a list of about five arguments the poster gives as to why this is his/her view. It includes things like low-income people shouldn’t be having children, this encourages people to stay on welfare-based programs for 18+ years, the government should mandate abortion despite moral views because it mandates other things despite moral views, and people should not rely on government assistance in the event it is taken away.
I’m going to give a few thoughts on WIC and government assistance here because the Reddit post is so old at this point.
Let me share a few facts about me. I am 29, 24 weeks pregnant, working a part-time job, and receiving government assistance. My husband and I are struggling financially. He works part-time as well as attending university to get a second bachelor’s degree in computer science. I am currently teaching ESL to adults and hoping for the chance to interview for a full-time position that would significantly raise our income levels to much more manageable levels. I also have a bachelor’s degree in business management.
At this point in our lives, I am on WIC and Medicaid. I was surprised I qualified for either of those. Why? Because my WIC qualification was based on being approved for Medicaid. Prior to 2015, we made well above the monthly income levels for Medicaid approval, but neither of us had health insurance because we couldn’t afford it. In 2015, my husband lost his job and had to go on unemployment until he found his current part-time job. I found out I was pregnant unexpectedly, and we immediately talked to my doctor about my options.
Cue our surprise when the doctor suggests applying for Medicaid. Lo and behold, we actually managed to qualify based on our current income, and so we went on the adventure of getting applications in for both Medicaid and WIC. I wound up getting approved for both those programs, and I can’t begin to share how grateful I am for them.
We are not the kind of people who want to stay on government assistance. My husband intends to finish his degree and find a well-paying job in the computer science field. I am hoping to go back to school at some point to get a master’s degree. We both believe we will not be on these programs indefinitely.
So if that’s the case, why should I be penalized for being pregnant?
According to the Reddit poster, low-income women will likely never have the opportunity to increase their earnings once they deliver because they’ll have to care for a child. I’m aware many women choose to stay at home or work less after having children, but I’m not one of those women. I will continue to work following delivery and will hopefully be able to increase my salary through moving to better positions.
Then there’s the fact this poster seems to assume all low-income women must be uneducated and must have always been low-income. There’s no gray area for women who have just fallen on hard times. It’s simply: abort all the babies of these irresponsible low-income women! I’m not sure that black and white view is realistic considering my husband and I were certainly not always low-income.
In another post, the user complains that if a woman has simply fallen on hard times or expects to increase her income, she should just wait to have children until she’s in a better position financially. I could understand that…if there wasn’t this little thing called time. Time isn’t always in a woman’s favor, and most logical people know that the longer a woman waits to conceive, the more likely she will end up having problems either conceiving, carrying, or bearing a healthy child.
I’m almost 30 years old. My husband and I would like to have at least two children. If we wait until he finishes school and finds a decent job, we’d be waiting till I was at least 32 or 33 to conceive our first child. In a lot of OB practices, you’re considered a high risk pregnancy if you’re over 35 years old, so my options would be to have a high risk pregnancy for my second child since there’s no way I’d go into back-to-back pregnancies.
Accounting for all that doesn’t seem to fit into the Reddit poster’s little ideals.
Let’s not forget, too, the moral implications of forcing abortions on low-income women. If this were a regular government program where low-income women were forced into abortions, women like me would likely end up relying on handouts from family rather than going to a forced abortion. I don’t believe in it, so I’d be working my butt off trying to find other options.
WIC is actually a great program, in my opinion. It’s set up so that a child can only stay on it for 5 years, so even if you do max out the program, you are only given those first 5 years. The program is also set up to cover things that are nutritious (at least, according to American dietary guidelines) and sometimes expensive. While it doesn’t provide any animal proteins besides eggs (and dairy), WIC does provide fresh fruits and vegetables, which can be pretty darn expensive.
It also provides great forms of dairy as well as other types of proteins (beans, peanut butter). I have gotten so many things I never would have purchased before through WIC, like cereal. My husband and I have a very limited budget for food and really limit how we spend it so that we can make the most out of it. We rarely buy things like cereal or snack foods because we need to be able to afford meats, good carbs, and other vegetables.
All in all, I’m very appreciative of WIC and will use it until I no longer qualify because it has been a life saver in terms of helping us to afford groceries.
To the Reddit poster who thinks I should get an abortion: please go get a reality check. Not every low-income woman has only the potential for more low-income. Not every low-income woman agrees with abortions. Not every low-income woman has always been in that position.
In short, dear Reddit poster, you do not determine the circumstances of every woman on WIC.
With love,
An Irritated Pregnant Woman
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