Do pregnant women deserve parking perks?
New York City considers offering free parking to women facing difficult pregnancies. But will it only fuel the resentment of other drivers?

A New York City councilman is proposing a new law granting special parking placards to pregnant women with medical approval, letting them park for free in no-parking or no-standing zones until 30 days after their due dates. Many women cheered the news, saying it would make life easier for those who, on doctors' orders, should be avoiding physical exertion. But critics of the plan say it will complicate already messy local parking laws, and even fuel discrimination against expectant mothers. Bad idea? (Watch a local report about the controversy)
This is not the government's business: "New York is a tough place to get around," says Jen Doll in The Village Voice, but it's hard for everyone, not just pregnant women. There's "a culture of support to pregnant women that involves letting them cut you in line for the bathroom or dressing room, getting up for them in the subway, and generally being nicer" to them than to "a regular old non-baby-ridden person." But that's all a personal choice — "legislating that kindness" will only make people resentful.
"Should you get special privileges for getting knocked up?"
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Free parking is the least we can offer expectant moms: Offering a pregnant woman free parking "is a beautiful gesture," says Meredith Carroll at Strollerderby. The objections are all predictable — but maybe the ordinance would have a better chance of passing "if the 'free' part of the parking was eliminated." Either way, this is a great idea. "Until you've walked a mile in a pregnant woman’s shoes, with swollen feet and ankles," you can't imagine what a basic courtesy this would be.
"Pregnant women in NYC: Free parking, coming soon?"
It will only increase discrimination: "Granting parking privileges to a woman who is eight months pregnant and barely able to walk seems like a nice thing to do," says Amy Graff in the San Francisco Chronicle. "My fear is that something like this fuels the 1950s idea that pregnant women are incapable and disabled." Pregnant women already face far too much discrimination, especially in the workplace, and giving them special treatment could merely fuel the antiquated notion that their place is in the home.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Gandhi arrests: Narendra Modi's 'vendetta' against India's opposition
The Explainer Another episode threatens to spark uproar in the Indian PM's long-running battle against the country's first family
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK
-
How the woke right gained power in the US
Under the radar The term has grown in prominence since Donald Trump returned to the White House
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK
-
Codeword: April 24, 2025
The Week's daily codeword puzzle
By The Week Staff