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The rising cost of living and plummeting birth rate has sent New York State into a panic. Governor Kathy Hochul has announced the BABY Benefit (Birth Allowance for Beginning Year), a scheme that will give parents $1,800 for each child born or adopted during the 2025–2026 fiscal year. Though the sum may not seem large, it represents something far greater: the realisation that children are the future of society and that raising new life deserves support.
The Baby Benefit is part of the 2026 state budget and will be overseen by the New York State Department of Social Services. The payment will go directly into the bank accounts of eligible parents, without any bureaucratic application process. To qualify, families must have a child during the fiscal year and be enrolled in public assistance programmes such as SNAP (formerly known as ‘food stamps’). It is designed to help cover essentials like nappies, medical care, and childcare during a baby’s crucial first year.
This measure comes at a time when New York, like the UK, is grappling with a serious demographic problem. For years, high living costs, low wages, and inflation have driven families away from the state. Many young couples have chosen to move to cheaper areas such as Florida or Texas, while others have simply delayed or given up on having children altogether. The Baby Benefit is a small but significant attempt to reverse this trend by helping families stay and grow within their communities. Some economists have said that the policy could attract new residents who want to settle down in a place that values and supports them.
Hungary offers a compelling example of how practical family support, like this, can transform a nation’s demographic woes. Over the past decade, the Hungarian government has introduced generous pro-family policies including direct payments to parents, tax breaks for mothers, and housing aid for families with children. These initiatives have helped to reverse a long decline in the birth rate, with the fertility rate rising by nearly 25% since 2010. While still below replacement level, Hungary’s experience demonstrates that when governments actively value and support family life, people respond positively.
Throughout the West, and especially in the United Kingdom, we face a similar challenge. Our own birth rate has fallen to historic lows, though if it were not for abortion we would remain at the replacement rate.
SPUC CEO, John Deighan, says, “This stark realisation about birth rates should prompt reflection. When society demonises children and pregnancy through the normalisation of abortion it starts to undermine its own future. Every practical step to bring parenthood and children to the forefront of culture should be taken, and whilst government incentives may help, the easiest step would be protecting all children from the earliest stages of life.”
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