Births fell in many nations during the pandemic as people feared going to hospitals, lacked family support because of lockdown restrictions and balked at child-care costs.

Source: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2023/01/11/chinas-population-likely-shrank-in-2022-as-births-hit-new-low/

Congress has also balked at efforts to retire older ships that the Navy says provide only marginal warfighting capacity, leaving the service at risk of not being able to afford basic maintenance and staffing costs.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/04/us/politics/us-navy-ships.html

Her friends have passed along some local job opportunities, but Tian and her parents all balked at the idea of her working for $400 to $550 per month.

Source: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-09-28/china-full-time-children

However, some were understood to have balked at the initial £1B valuation due to All3Media’s considerable debt pile, which amounts to some £760M.

Source: https://deadline.com/2023/10/all3media-deal-banijay-north-road-goldman-sachs-1235578978/

McCarthy balked when asked about party members Mike Johnson and Kevin Hern serving as consensus candidates, or those who maximize the amount of people who approve of them holding office.

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12633517/Kevin-McCarthy-speaker-house-members-calls-vote.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

Previously, Angel balked at Jill's idea to invite both the winning and losing teams to the White House.

Source: https://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00203596.html

Some potential investors balked at the terms over concerns about Twitter’s financial performance, the Journal reported.

Source: https://observer.com/2023/01/elon-musk-twitter-debt-finance/

The U sold its teaching hospital to Fairview in 1997 and balked at the idea of an out-of-state entity owning the University of Minnesota Medical Center in Minneapolis.

Source: https://m.startribune.com/fairview-backs-out-of-ends-merger-with-sanford-health-minneapolis-university-minnesota-south-dakota/600292916/

Twice in December, Carlos Correa almost became the third shortstop to command a contract of a dozen or more seasons, but the Giants and Mets both balked at his physicals, and backed out.

Source: https://www.bostonherald.com/2023/02/17/red-sox-notebook-bobby-dalbec-manny-machado-tim-mccarver/