I didn't even have to read your post (I did), but I instantly knew it was because of judgement. When I was 24 and pregnant. I had a full time job, but was a long term temp so I had no insurance. My boyfriend was a full time student (at my urging). I applied for Medciaid, WIC, and SNAP and qualified for them all.
It was the worst year of my life. Every doctor's office visit was met with judgement, "the tone," and receptionists looking down their nose at stupid, loser, freeloader, welfare queen me and my good for nothing baby-daddy. I even skipped appointments because I hated going. I would go every other month in the beginning when I should have gone every month. I went every month when it should have been every 2 weeks. Some doctors were nice after some small talk they realized I was just in a tight spot and others just saw my insurance and recommended I get an IUD put in at my 6 week check up after giving birth.
When I delivered the baby all the nurses came in, read my chart, and asked when I was getting the IUD because "babies can be born 9 months apart." I guess they hadn't read that I graduated from a private university people can only dream of attending (with an amazing scholarship), that I had a steady job for 3 years, lived on my own since 17, and had been dating my boyfriend (also about to be a college graduate, doing it 100% on his own) for 4 years.
Everytime I went into the WIC office, no matter how many times I told them no, they asked if my boyfriend was beating me. They asked if I had an eating disorder (I'm naturally thin), and I should eat more unless I wanted to have a baby with birth defects. I would take a picture of my WIC coupons on my phone so I could buy the items without anyone seeing me with the folder. I would go to a 24 hour story in the middle of the night sometimes or even send my mom because I was so embarrassed after an incident where I had a $5 coupon for vegetables so I bought mushrooms. Turns out mushrooms are not a vegetable. The cashier shut down the whole lane I was in an announced "YALL CAINT GET DEEZ CUZ IT SAYS SO RIGHT HERE." I said "Sorry" and abandoned the rest of my cart and booked it out of there.
If I used my SNAP card, it seemed like the whole world came to a stop to scrutinize my poorness and food choices. "If you need SNAP why do you have an iphone, bitch." If I knew I was going to get pregnant LAST YEAR, I wouldn't have bought it. But now I'm locked into a 2 year contract so it makes sense to keep it. Plus I don't have internet at my house.
OMG I am so sorry I wrote that novel, but I was in the same position as you. People are just jerks. That's really all I can say. Same thing happened to A LOT of people I know. Good luck, stay strong.