God's Country (inspired by The Handmaid's Tale)

After abortion and birth control were banned, the United States of America suffered from rampant over-population. The government tried various methods to fix the problem. They attempted a one-child policy, but this was not enough--cities were running out of space, and the country was running out of resources.

Finally, when food shortages and crowding threatened to bring the country down, the government came up with a solution. Only the brightest, healthiest, and morally upright people would be allowed to have children; these people would be fostered in a sheltered compound, safe from the outside world. These children would be raised to be God's salvation for the country. All others would be made infertile at age 10. In only a generation, America would rise up renewed and better than ever.

These are four vignettes written in response to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.