“Pronatalist” movement of America – a stretch Marginal activists, reflection groups and current occupants of the White House – have a viral moment. Vice-president JD Vance Clamps publicly For “more babies in the United States of America”. Transport Secretary Sean Duffy has published a note Undering his department to give priority to communities with “birth rates and birth rates above the national average”. Elon Musk claims that the drop in birth rates is “Greater risk for civilization than global warming.(The drop in the American birth rate is partly awarded to Less pregnancies in adolescent girls.)
At the helm is Donald Trump, the name of self “Fertilization president“, Who called for a” baby boom “and a exam Political proposals to encourage procreation – and in particular, to increase the size and status of traditional (and white) nuclear families. Among the drift possibilities are a prize for the “national maternity medal” for women with at least six children; the prioritization of parents in the distribution of Fulbright scholarships funded by the government, with 30% reserved for candidates married to children; A cash premium of $ 5,000 to married women when they give birth; And public education programs on the menstrual cycle so that girls and women “understand better when they are … capable of conceiving”.
It does not matter that the inspiration of the maternity medal is straight out of a Nazi game book; A German law of 1938 created the Cross of honor of the German motherA gold badge with the swastika presented to mothers of eight or more (if the two parents aligned themselves with the Nazi myths of racial purity). Or that Fulbright distribution is very similar to deobbering quotas now. Or that the cash price of $ 5,000 would barely cover the Average cost of the pocket For giving birth in this country.
The policy that jumps to me is the mandate of menstrual education. I fought for fair menstruation policies, the abolition of the “buffer tax” to ensure the supply of free vintage products in schools. Complete education on menstrual cycles is a drum that I beat regularly – including in the Los Angeles Times two years ago in a titled Opinion article: “Florida wants to prevent schools from talking about menstruation. What would Judy Blume say? “
At the time, legislators were advancing and ended up adopting a law which prohibited the discussion of periods in classrooms of the state primary school. Blume has indeed weighed – with a simple message on social networks“Sorry, Margaret”, in reference to the character title of his classic PRETEEN of 1970, “Are you there God? It's me, Margaret ” – and with a Rebuilt -cooked throat.
This law remains in force today. Children deserve to know how their bodies work. Gen Z and the millennium adults do it too. Many of them have received Little or no formal sex education When they were at school.
Since the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in 2022 which canceled Roe against Wade and has returned the rights to abortion to the States, I argued that menstrual literacy is more than simply deserved – but similar to compulsory self -defense. With prohibited or limited abortion in 28 StatesAnd growing criminalization For the results of pregnancy such as miscarriage, full control of menstrual cycles – not only “how” but the conception “when” can occur – is urgent, even wild, knowledge.
This lack of understanding affects civic life and leadership. Among the public examples of menstrual ignorance, NASA engineers – real scientists of live rockets! – had no idea of the number of stamps that a female astronaut would need a week in space. Their textual request to the legendary Sally Ride – “Is 100 the right number?” – has become the subject of a Classic cult song.
And another example, with a disastrous consequence: the governor of Texas Greg Abbott, Speaking About the law of the State prohibiting abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, did not know how the weeks of pregnancy are counted. He said that a six -week equity ban on at least six weeks to get an abortionApparently ignoring that pregnancy is measured from the last period, not a missed design or period – which means that a person could have as little as two weeks to get an abortion.
If managers do not know basic biology or inclined to peddle mathematics and troubled lies, education is indeed our only antidote. This is why the day after the end of Roe, I propose Health agencies could help amplify simple information – for example, demanding that menstrual products companies do business in the United States to provide standardized and medically precise information on the menstrual packaging and consumption websites, following the example of the example of United States and Drug AdministrationThe mandate of the uniform language on the risks and symptoms of toxic shock syndrome.
I suppose that it is not entirely out of the question; The FDA is under a new direction, after all. But we seem to live in the era of menstruation 101 related to Trump. get Pregnant, rather than making their own informed decisions on pregnancy and their bodies.
In 2023, I could not have imagined this political reality when I wrote: “Take him from Margaret. The periods are not partisans; we all bleed in red.” Now, I suggest that there is no choice but to take advantage of the Judy Blume style, and to speak even stronger and more convincingly to defend better, healthier and more precise information.
Jennifer Weiss-Wolf is the executive director of Birnbaum Women's Leadership Center of the New York University School of Law.
