The US healthcare system is a total mess generally but we need to talk about how it's set up so that, in effect, women are taxed for being female. https://twitter.com/jabriella/status/1333867060032659462

The birth of babies is both a fact of life and a societal good. In every society, women pay twice to provide this service to society: first physically, which to some extent is unavoidable, and then financially, via reduced earnings.

In the US they then pay a third time by literally handing over money. This is unfair. If anything, they should *be paid*, so that the burden of having babies doesn't fall exclusively on the women who may never even have chosen to do so.

This also applies for illness etc- how is it fair that people are financially punished for a cancer diagnosis that nobody would choose to have? But it's especially galling when it's literally just the normal, healthy functioning of the female body that's being penalised.

And of course, in the states birth control is also often unaffordable to those who are uninsured. For straight women, the only option if you don't want a huge bill may be celibacy.