Fertility futures: implications of national, pronatalist policies for adolescent women in Australia

Abstract

The Australian Federal Government has responded to the projected, adverse economic repercussions of an ageing population with pronatalist, family-friendly tax incentives, policy rhetoric, and a lump sum Baby Bonus. Tangentially, amid circulation of birth-dearth predictions, the media is positioning fertility as a precious, personal asset not to be squandered. Women in Australia are being subjected to a synergism of new - or renewed - societal forces to “procreate and cherish” that may have unintended consequences on the most vulnerable: newly-pubescent, adolescent women.