Time - USA (2020-11-16)

52 Time November 16, 2020

Society

Shelby Parker Planned To geT PregnanT

this year. The timing seemed right: She was

working as a middle-school teacher in Cuyahoga

Falls, Ohio, a job that provided benefits for her whole

family. Her husband, who drives a truck for FedEx,

had just gotten a promotion. Their 21-month-old

daughter was nearly ready for preschool.

Now Parker, 29, is contemplating not trying for

a second child at all. The state, deprived of tax reve-

nues because of business closures resulting from the

corona virus, cut public-school funding by $300 mil-

lion. The school has warned teachers that there may

be a round of layoffs before the end of the year. As

the pandemic rages on, Parker and her husband

worry that she could end up out of work. If that

happens, they’ll be left without health insurance.

If things were different—if Parker had confidence

in the economy, in her chances of avoiding exposure

to the corona virus on the days she teaches in per-

son, in the government’s ability to control the spread

of the virus—she’d be pregnant already. “I’m griev-

ing for the family I thought I would have,” she says.

Economists and fertility experts say hundreds

of thousands of American women are making the

same decision. A June report from the Brookings

WOMEN ARE DECIDING NOT TO HAVE BABIES BECAUSE

OF THE PANDEMIC. THAT’S BAD FOR EVERYONE

BY ELIANA DOCKTERMAN

Pregnant Pause

PHOTOGRAPH BY MADDIE MCGARVEY FOR TIME