What do you think of news coverage of Russia paying thier citizens to have children?
Most articles overlooked the high abortion rate because that isn’t the reason for population decline. The population is declining because people don’t want to have children, and people with limited access to birth control who don’t want to have children have abortions. The ultimate problem that payments seek to address is not the method used to avoid having children, but that people don’t want to have them, that so is what the articles focused on. Also, abortion isn’t a hot issue in Russia like it is in the US. People there generally don’t view a fetus in the early stages of development as a person yet, and so don’t see anything wrong in getting an abortion. It’s just not a topic of serious debate, so payments aren’t going to have much of effect on the issue itself (and no “pro choicers” to offend. It’s just not a contentious issue) Alcoholism and environmental issues were mentioned because they re not means of avoiding having children, but are instead reasons that people are unwilling
