Reply #235: The older BOYS aren't expected to do any of the cooking, cleaning, childrearing - they get to go

[Raineyb]

play. It's complete servitude for the girls, and it's atrocious."

And this in a nutshell is why some people would consider this setup abusive.

I can't say that I blame them one whit either. As to laws governing the size of families, there's nothing that would stop congress from passing a law limiting the number of exemptions for children allowed on the tax return. The Duggars are after all within their rights to do, as they've chosen, to treat the womb as a pez dispenser. We are also equally within our rights to not subsidize it via our tax system if our politicians had the courage to pass such a law. (Which of course they do not.)