During the recent presidential debate, Vice President Kamala Harris insinuated that abortion is needed because people “can barely afford child care.” The statement underscored one of the problems with the pro-abortion movement today — abortion is touted as a necessity for people to simply survive.
“What is happening in our country, working people, working women who are working one or two jobs who can barely afford child care as it is, have to travel to another state to get on a plane sitting next to strangers to go and get the health care she needs, barely can afford to do it, and what you are putting her through is unconscionable,” Harris said during the debate with former President Donald Trump on September 10.
Though the statement was meant to demonstrate that it is a terrible thing for a woman to be unable to access abortion in her own state, it actually shows a different reality: that a woman would be unable to afford a child, even after working two jobs. No one should be made to feel they need to kill their child because they can’t support their family — and that killing should never be posited as a solution to economic problems.
The idea that abortion is a solution to poverty has been peddled for years, but in reality, killing an innocent child is not the way to better one’s economic circumstances. Abortion advocates have long championed abortion as a necessity that will help struggling women, and that rallying cry is still being shouted today. Yet since abortion was legalized in 1973, the rate of single mothers struggling to make ends meet has only risen; as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has pointed out, abortion and poverty are a “vicious cycle.”
READ: Four pro-abortion lies from the presidential debate
Abortion advocates today are pouring resources into helping women kill their children: setting up travel funds, paying for airfare, raising millions for amendment campaigns, siphoning taxpayer funding through municipal budgets for abortion, and more. Employers are doing much the same, paying for abortion travel for their employees while skimping on the policies that would truly benefit families. The breadth of the money raised to support abortion is astounding while families are floundering and struggling to get the support needed to thrive.
Rather than increased access to the direct homicide of preborn children, Americans need to consider the unfortunate result of discouraging and disincentivizing marriage in society; absent fathers are often the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about. Nearly 90% of women seeking abortions are unmarried. The government, which steps in to financially assume the role of husband and father, can never effectively fill the gap of a missing male role model.
Americans must also consider policy changes that will provide parents with meaningful help. Pregnancy resource centers offer many programs and services for young families just starting out, but other benefits like better health insurance, child care support, paid parental lead, flexible paid time off policies, material assistance, and pro-family policies are needed across the board so that families can truly thrive.
Instead of touting abortion as freedom and a lifeline, our leaders should be doing everything financially possible to celebrate and cherish each new life.
