A TikTok video by a Colorado influencer is gaining traction after she posted herself criticising the Trump Administration’s attempt at convincing women to have more children. In her video, she goes point by point, arguing why none of the policies offered are any good or are complete nonsense.
Posted by TikTok user AlmostWealthy, aka Amanda, shares an article by The New York Times, written by Caroline Kitchener. Some proposals discussed by the Trump administration range from $5,000 payments to awarding medals to mothers, which Amanda criticizes as unrealistic.
Speaking on the $5,000 ‘baby bonus,’ Amanda rightly points out that it’s incredibly expensive just to have children in the U.S. “$5,000 isn’t even enough to cover the actual delivery… even with insurance in a lot of cases.”
Another idea Amanda takes issue with are the courses proposed to educate women of their periods via cycle charting courses, as well as fund programs to research health conditions like endometriosis. Amanda is completely unconvinced that understanding cycle charts would encourage her to have kids. On funding, Amanda angrily says, “Apparently we have to be in a [expletive] birth rate crisis to get research funding for a condition that affects five to 10% of women!”
What really gets under Amanda’s skin is of course the ‘National Medal of Motherhood.’ It proposes awarding such a medal to any mother who have had at least six children. “Sign me up!” Amanda says sarcastically.
Amanda is pretty cynical about the proposals. “We don’t give two [expletive] about the cost of any other healthcare… absolutely no mention about the housing crisis, cost of groceries, lack of wage growth, pharmaceutical cost, medical cost, cost of health insurance, or literally any other reason that actually affects people’s decision to have children.” None of it, to her, is enough to give up on “career and autonomy.” Not even for a silly medal.
Women Online Give Their Take on the White House’s Birthrate Plan
The majority of the comments came from women, who joined Amanda in trashing the Trump Administration’s convoluted birthrate plan. Many even gave their thoughts on what would actually sway them to have children and argued none of what was offered was actually good enough. Others commenters aired their own greivances, sharing the costly nature of simply having kids not being addressed.
“Universal healthcare and childcare would do it immediately,” one of the top comments on TikTok read. When women are getting billed thousands of dollars just to have kids, universal healthcare seems like a prerequisite. In the same thread, another TikTok user added that “universal basic income” should be a given, too. It turns out, when people have money, they actually spend it on necessities, like their kids.
Others added to this, arguing it needs to go even further. What about actually having the time to spend with your newborn? In addition to the U.S. footing the bill for women to have children, a TikTok viewer added that “maternity and paternity leave” should be mandatory, along with covering the cost of fertility treatments. Though others specified it should be “paid leave.”
Many women on TikTok talked of the ridiculous costs of childrearing, like daycare. “Daycare tuition cost us $40k last year for two kids,” one TikTok viewer wrote, and shared they couldn’t afford to have more kids. Another commented that the birth of their daughter still cost them $20,000 “with very good insurance.”
Given the response on Amanda’s TikTok video, many viewers appear to find the Trump Administration’s birthrate plan pretty out-of-touch. Some argue that meaningful changes to healthcare policy would be necessary to address the issue and encourage higher birth rates, among other reforms. The debate continues to unfold online.
