Grrr I am resenting the phrase "hefty price tag." That just means that money, the price tag, was originally taken away from the parents, in the first place. It didn't grow on trees.

Yes it comes from the childless. Well, they need the young and strong to build roads and man their borders, and care for them in age, so fine.

Half the population used to foster the next generation. The women. Now their paid work is needed. And of course, their taxes.

Perhaps sterilizing them came with that hefty price tag - the money they generated. They paid that. They themselves paid to be sterilized. Of course they were allowed to keep some of their wages.

They paid for their own sterilization willingly, because they thought it would be fun to get out of the house, and also have a little money, after taxes.

The "hefty price tag" is simply not requiring that they work.

The elderly remember when a woman with young children working was a choice. It hasn't been a choice for many years. What is permitted becomes required.

Mrs. Gresham's Law states that women who produce money instead of children drive other women, who produce children instead of money, out of circulation.

Hefty price tag. Hmmf.