Mark Robert Rank

“Finally, what about the myth that women on welfare make a conscious decision to have more children in order to receive greater welfare payments? A substantial body of research has demonstrated that this is simply not the case. In fact, women on welfare have a slightly lower fertility rate than women in the general population.19 The difference is that many more of these births occur outside of marriage. This myth was debunked nearly 50 years by Johnnie Tillmon, a Black mother receiving welfare. Writing for the Liberation News Service, she observed, People still believe that old lie that AFDC mothers keep on having kids just to get a bigger welfare check. On the average, another baby means another $35 a month—barely enough for food and clothing. Having babies for profit is a lie that only men could make up, and only men could believe. Men, who never have to bear the babies or have to raise them and maybe send them to war.20”
― Mark Robert Rank, Poorly Understood: What America Gets Wrong About Poverty