Chicago is dying out
Erudite scientists found that the generations are spacing too far apart and too many citizens opt to stay childless or subscribe to a one child policy. While Amity is doing amicably, they still reduced their own numbers significantly over the last five generations. The number of same sex couples is increasing and, while it is reasonable to assume they scrapped their family planning, there are other options nobody avails of. The citizens of Chicago are hereby encouraged to sign up to to our newly created Populous program where you will be matched with the most suitable partner. Those progressing through the matching system will receive additional benefits. Children conceived by such a matched couple will, upon confirmation, receive life-long benefits.
Terms and conditions apply
…
Tris POV
I stare at the screen until Jeanine turns the lights back on. Then I blink, and blink again to clear my head.
"What the fuck?!"
Oops, did I say that out loud? Oh, thank fuck, they are all staring at Veronica.
"I agree," Eric speaks up and everyone turns to look at him.
"Tris, you keep nodding your head," Max blurts out.
"Of course I am! What the fuck?!"
"Language," Marcus calls over to us.
"Do you want your Abnegation to sign up to a matching program and pop out babies left and right," I ask him.
"My faction always puts others before themselves. If Chicago needs more children to secure our future then we will not selfishly stand in the way," he boasts.
"You did not say that it will be Abnegation fucking like bunnies though," Veronica jumps in. "If they are really this selfless they will need to cut short their years long courtship and fast track to the wedding."
"What about the family size policy," Jack asks Marcus.
"Do you actually have a policy on how many children are permitted per family," Johanna asks, shaking her head in dismay.
"We encourage small families," Marcus admits.
"And chastity until marriage, then no sex for gratification. It is reserved for procreation, which is limited to no more than two children, exemptions are made for those who give birth to multiples in their second pregnancy," I recite.
"Oh, I forgot you once were Abnegation, Tris," Jack mumbles loudly. "See, that's the doctrine she grew up with!"
"So everyone is on board," Jeanine asks excitedly.
"Amity is producing plenty of children," Johanna exclaims.
"Johanna, over the last five generations Amity went from an average of six children down to an average of three. Out of those three children approximately two transfer out while you get only a quarter of that back with each Choosing Ceremony. So, each new generation, while producing three children, give Amity only half of that in adult members."
Johanna's face falls and we can see that this really is not what she expected to hear.
"Jack, while you subscribe to an as many children as people want policy, nobody avails of that. Candor have between one and two children and the trend is going to none or one," Jeanine warns.
"I will need to check the register to verify this," Jack argues.
"Of course, email me if you want a copy of the study with all the corresponding statistics," Jeanine offers, and it is in that moment that I realise she is not bluffing.
Looking around, I can see everyone else come to the same conclusion.
"What about Dauntless," Max asks with some trepidation.
"Well, you do have a high number of members," Jeanine admits to my surprise.
"But," Eric asks.
"Your jobs are dangerous," Jeanine starts while Veronica huffs. "A lot of your members work outside the compound. Staying for weeks in Amity or at the fence, stationed in Candor or Erudite; they all tend to avoid having children. Only one in ten females has a child, with seventy percent of those members being female this is a significant number. Another example is your initiation. You seem to sort through them with a fine toothed comb, which is admirable but creates a high dropout rate. You keep about a quarter of those that choose Dauntless. Then," Jeanine takes a deep breath and looks at Jack and Marcus quickly. "Then there is the number of unwanted pregnancies, created during irresponsible drunken hook-ups while partying. Your lax morals result in many women choosing to not keep their babies. The abortion rate in Dauntless is unprecedented… about ninety percent of pregnancies get terminated before the mothers are even six weeks pregnant. We supply a lot of emergency contraceptives to Dauntless despite the mountains of condoms that get shipped every month."
"Are you counting emergency contraceptive with the number of abortions," Veronica follows up.
"Yes," Jeanine admits and I sigh in relief.
"Do you have the actual numbers of abortions," Jack asks. "I am not talking about emergency contraceptive use, that's women who take a chemical to prevent the blastocyst from attaching to the uterine lining. As per Candor law this is not what an abortion is, not at all."
"It's about five percent of pregnancies," Jeanine admits.
"I would like to see the full report," Johanna interrupts.
"Why don't you send all of us the report and we meet again tomorrow," Jack suggests.
"I have a council meeting," Marcus argues.
"Postpone it, tell your members that there is an emergency meeting with all leaders and they will hear about it afterwards. This will guarantee everyone's willingness to comply," Jack states.
"If you want to wait, I can get you all a hard copy," Jeanine offers grudgingly.
…
"So, what are we going to do," Jonathan asks when we get together in the morning.
"I don't know," Max sighs. "If Jeanine did not falsify the numbers then we don't have many options. Incentives for having kids does not sound so bad."
"She did not lie about any number concerning Dauntless, I checked," Eric groans.
"Did you sleep at all," Veronica asks, eyeing him.
I have to admit, Eric does look tired.
"I had a few naps…"
"Our female fence guards are really abstaining from having kids," Max exclaims.
"Yes, Jeanine was rather generous in her evaluation," Eric admits.
"How so," I challenge.
"The female fence guards? She counted only those under thirty-five years of age. If you count all up to the age of fifty it reads more like one out of fifteen has a child and I really mean singular. The emergency contraceptive is given to more females but Jeanine only counted those that most likely ovulated."
"I am going to repeat myself: what are we going to do," Jonathan asks.
"No fucking idea," Eric growls.
"Maybe we should give Jeanine's suggestion proper consideration," Max suggests.
"Did you actually look into her program," Veronica challenges.
"I did," Max admits. "There is room for improvement, especially when it comes to the terms and conditions."
"I didn't bother reading them,' Jonathan admits.
"Well, I did and I am not sure about it. There are no incentives for higher ups, she was not that creative in her rewards, forgetting that not everyone is Erudite and would want an in depths lab tour," Veronica lists off. "She set up age restrictions, which is stupid, people over the age of thirty can have children and it should not matter to her that they are considered the previous generation. Sixteen years is not the real life turn around time, she seems to have written that while half asleep," Veronica laughs.
"She doesn't take faction specifics into account either," Max adds. "If she wants more children then we need to be able to cater to more women taking time off, childcare and everything else. She wants to subsidise things like nappies and formula but that is only a fraction of what rearing a child costs. I think her plan needs a lot of work and everyone needs to be on the same page. We, as a whole, need to start providing a lot of things for free for everyone having children and not just those subscribing to the program."
"Then you need other incentives for people to do this the right way so you don't have all females going off birth control in order to get a pay rise and promotion as soon as this goes public," I warn.
"Tris is right," Eric cautions.
"We still need to keep it fair for all those who are starting on their own and raising families," Veronica agrees.
"We can ask everyone who is not engaged or married to sign up," I suggest.
"What about those in committed relationships?"
"Tell them to put a ring on it, they don't need to be married, only officially committed," Jonathan suggests.
"What about bereaved with children," Max asks.
"They have children and can avail of the perks. It's personal choice to find a person to have more," Eric proposes.
"Age restrictions," Veronica asks.
"Voluntary for those sixteen and seventeen, not sure we should give an upper limit," I comment.
"Why in gods name wouldn't you give an upper limit," Max wonders out loud.
"Because men can have children even in their seventies while some women can still have them in their fifties and artificially even later than that," Veronica explains, clearly following my line of thinking.
"So you two agree with her plans for same sex couples," Eric double checks.
"I think her idea of offering them donors and being matched with people willing to help out is a great idea. The sore point is Abnegation forbidding same sex couples," I warn.
"Marcus' tune has to change the most," Veronica admits. "Embracing sex and all it entails, encouraging his people to do it more often and allowing young members to skip the formal courtship."
"What about that marriage clause," Eric asks.
"There is no marriage clause," Max scolds.
"Max, there is," Veronica states.
"Agreeing to only proceed with physical intimacy after signing the relevant papers means you agree to what is written in them. Just because you can click on consent without reading them does not mean you did not just sign a prenuptial agreement. If both parties are satisfied they click 'consent' on the next agreement to receive further rewards. That second agreement will bind them legally together and reads like a common marriage to me," I explain.
"Uh, I might have skipped that to save time," Max admits. "Fuck, marriage?!"
"Look, we can just do our own version of rewards for babies," Jonathan argues.
"We could but Dauntless could benefit from some of the rewards. I mean, we would get more medical personnel and Jeanine offered training for those wanting to work in childcare. Some of her proposals as to how we can cater to an increasing population are actually quite good."
They all stare at me.
"What? I can admit it when she gets something right," I growl.
"We still need rewards for higher ups," Eric reminds us.
"You are unwilling to commit unless you get something out of it," Veronica muses. "How about more consideration when it comes to tasks outside the compound," I suggest.
"But if we all have children at the same time we all deserve to stay here," Eric argues.
"Well, we need more substitute or junior leader positions. That's a great incentive for many," I exclaim.
"But that still leaves poor Eric with nothing but a pat on his shoulder for getting an unfortunate girl pregnant," Veronica smirks.
"We could be allowed to delegate some shitty tasks to the junior leaders," I grin.
"Oh, I see where you are going with that," Jonathan catches on. "We could opt out of being on duty for parties. Junior leaders will love to show off their new powers. I like it and I would have a child just to get out of being on call at night," he agrees.
"I can delegate shitty tasks to newly promoted people?" Eric is perking up.
"Yes," we all agree and he smirks.