I do NOT feel sorry for this woman….It was the second Thursday in February, and a historic White House purge aimed at federal workers like Cooper was sweeping the country. But the headlines felt far away from her life in rural Michigan. She figured her job, with paychecks totaling about $40,000 a year, would be safe from the cost-cutting campaign led by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk.
Besides, motherhood was her most pressing concern. Cooper, 24, and her husband were trying to get pregnant, but the doctor said that IVF might be their best chance. Trump had promised to make it free. That is what she thought about in the voting booth.
Now she was staring at her phone, learning that probationary workers in the Forest Service were the next to be fired by his administration. Cooper was likely to be one of them, her union head told her.
Her eyes watered. She knew it wasn’t personal. Every day brought new rumors of cuts, and her performance evaluation from last fall found her “fully successful” — the highest possible score. She reminded herself that she had done everything right: graduated college with a 3.5 GPA, finished her first semester of work toward a master’s degree in forestry with a 4.0, rescued two dogs and two cats from the local shelter, chosen a man who held her on the shower floor when she found out she had endometriosis, a condition that can lead to infertility, and told her, “It’s okay, there is more than one way to be a parent.”
She thought about the Facebook posts she had seen a few days earlier.
“It’s February 3,” her grandmother posted, “and we’re going in the right direction.”
“Any government employee who is afraid of transparency,” wrote the man who taught her AP government class in high school, “is a criminal!”….
…
Getting fired meant she would no longer have health insurance, including the 12 weeks of paid maternity leave that was a guaranteed benefit of her federal service. Also gone would be the promotion that would allow her to plan for the kids she so badly wanted to have.
She wondered if Trump was going to break his promise to make IVF free, and if it would even matter if he did….
…
Four days after Trump fired her, Cooper was in bed with her husband. She picked up her phone and saw the news.
There was a new executive order to expand access to IVF. She read the White House fact sheet, which talked about Trump’s request for policy recommendations to reduce costs of the service.
But it still wasn’t free, and she was out of a job and out of a plan.
“Delivering on promises for American families,” read the White House’s announcement.
“That’s bulls—”, she recalled thinking, and put down her phone.
image…Ryleigh Cooper, 24, lost her job with the U.S. Forest Service. (Kyle Monk/For The Washington Post)
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.