Contrary to popular belief and the mentality that has been ingrained in all of us since we were kids, not all women or men want to have children of their own. Due to the movie plots, media coverage and the stigma, we are made to believe that being childless is not okay – it is our duty to our country, to our society and most of all to our families. We all grow up with the notion that we are going to have kids, at least two, because that is what we see in on our television screens, in the celebrity headlines, and all around us in everyday life. In the last century, being childfree meant infertility and failure for the couple, stating that there was something wrong with one or the other partner. They had to have kids and in actuality, did not have a say their pregnancy since birth control was legalized in marriages in 1965 (“The Right to Privacy”). Even …show more content…
The cost of raising a single child, let alone more than one is more expensive than many couples can afford in today’s market, especially with the gender wage gap still existing. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “a middle-income married couple family will spend between $12,350 and $13,900 annually” on a child that was born in 2015, which would estimate to a total of $233,610. “Families with lower incomes are expected to spend $174,690 and families with higher incomes are expected to spend $371,210 from birth through age 17” (“Families Projected to Spend”). In addition, some families also have the burden of having to pay for the college tuition(s) and living expenses without knowing if it will ever pay off. Many families simply can not afford this financial burden, having to buy everything from cribs to diapers to clothes to food, and disputing over financial matters might drive the couple apart rather than keeping them