INCENTIVE TO COMBAT LOW BIRTH RATES CREATES PROBLEMS FOR SOON-TO-BE MOTHERS

When a good policy is set to take off, sometimes new factors have to be considered before deciding whether to go ahead as planned or change some elements of the plan in order to put a more humane face on the set agenda.

In any event, however, man proposes but God disposes. Here's the relevant story, from Germany:

[Last Updated: Wednesday, 27 December 2006, 11:55 GMT

Pregnant Germans seek cash bonus


Many German mothers-to-be are reportedly trying to delay labour so their births coincide with a generous new government scheme.

Parents of babies born on or after 1 January will be entitled to up to 25,200 euros (£16,911, $33,300) to ease the financial burden of parenthood.

But those born even a minute earlier will not be covered by the scheme.

The cash subsidies are part of a government initiative to boost Germany's dwindling birth rate.

German women have an average of 1.37 children, well below the average of 2.1 needed to keep a population stable. One minister recently warned of "the lights going out".

Under the current system of Elterngeld, parents receive a maximum of 7,200 euros (£4,831, $9,472) over two years.

But the parents of children born in 2007 will be granted over two thirds of their former salary for up to a year - up to 25,200 euros.

'Let nature take its course'

Doctors have been warning women not to take any medication to try to delay labour, and few, they stress, would put the life of their baby at risk for the sake of the money.

But what many mums-to-be do in order to bring on labour, pregnant Germans are now anxious to avoid.

These include drinking red wine, eating curries and taking part in physical activity.

Midwives are also advising women to avoid cinnamon and cloves - a staple of German Christmas cooking.

And it was to the government's festive spirit that a Berlin bishop appealed this week when he asked for the start date for the new benefits to be brought forward.

"It would be an anti-bureaucratic act in the spirit of Christmas to move the date from 1 January to 24 December," Wolfgang Huber, a leader of the Protestant church, said in the Berliner Morgenpost newspaper.]


SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6211737.stm



I GUESS WE'LL ALL HAVE TO WAIT TO SEE WHAT THE NEW YEAR BRINGS FORTH.

MANY BUNDLES OF JOY, IN MANY RESPECTS, HOPEFULLY IN GERMANY AND ELSEWHERE!