Charlie Stross@cstross@wandering.shop
China to hike tax on condoms in attempt to boost falling birth rate
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/18/china-to-raise-tax-condoms-boost-birth-rate
That's not going to work. Instead, it'll boost the abortion rate and cause a spike in the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases.
(Attempts to force women into pregnancy by withholding contraception tend to fail horrifically—see also Romania in the 1970s and 1980s following Decree 770.)