What a True Pro-Life Agenda Would Look Like
The anti-choice/ pro-life movement may have finally won the battle over women’s reproductive rights. Unwanted babies will be born to women who are unable to care for them and/or are uninterested in having them. Seventy-five percent of the women who have abortions are low income, sixty percent already have children and 55% are not in relationships. So make no mistake, we are talking about bringing more poor children into this country. A true pro-life agenda would recognize the need to support these children and their families. Otherwise, this wave of anti-abortion legislation and court decisions will just create more intergenerational poverty.
A true pro-life agenda would include increasing financial support for child welfare and adoption services to address the inevitable increased need for these services, increasing access to mental health care for children and their families, improving public education services, the creation of family allowances to keep children out of poverty, legislation to limit the availability of guns to reduce danger to our children, and financing to create community centers in all cities and towns that provide an array of social services including sports, health, mental health and child care.
In short, it would resemble the sort of legislation the staunchest anti-abortion members of Congress have spent the last two years vehemently opposing.
According to the CDC, 20% of children 0-18 suffer from some type of mental illness, but only 20% of those children receive appropriate care and treatment. Research using parent surveys and with emergency room visits suggests that the impact of Covid has made things worse. A real pro-life agenda would provide more money for training and supporting mental health providers to work with children and would focus on creating a system where the majority of mental health providers actually accept insurance. Though the Affordable Care Act required mental health care parity, the reimbursement rates are often so low that providers choose to accept only patients who can pay privately. That would not include many new post-repeal babies.
A real pro-life agenda would address child and family poverty. The best way, most obviously, to get children out of poverty is to give their families money. Copious research indicates that family stress caused by living in poverty leads children to have poorer mental and physical health outcomes. The child poverty rate increased from 12 to 17% from December 2021 to January 2022 as a result of Congress’ failure to pass the increased refundable child tax credit. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' analysis of Census data, most of the additional money from the increased child tax credit was spent on food, clothing, school supplies and rent. Without it, more children are now being raised in poverty. A true pro-life agenda would support the continued refundable tax benefits for these families.
Federal minimum wage is currently only $7.25 an hour. If a mother earns minimum wage working 40 hours a week for 52 weeks a year, she will only earn $15,000, placing her and her child below the federal poverty line of $18,000 (which is not enough to survive anywhere in the US). Even in California, the state with the highest minimum wage ($14 or $15 an hour), a mother working for that pay cannot afford housing. A true pro-life agenda would support higher federal minimum wage laws so that families can make enough to support themselves when they work fulltime and not be in poverty without government assistance.
One of the easiest ways out of poverty in the United States has historically been through education. American 15-year-olds scored 30th among OECD countries in math skills and reasoning. U.S. Millennials entering the workforce are ranked lowest in math and problem solving. Further, many who pursue higher education in an effort to escape poverty end up with burdensome debt from higher education. As a result of state cuts in public spending for education, tuition has risen leaving graduates with debt that they have trouble escaping. A true pro-lifers’ agenda would prioritize increased spending on elementary and secondary schools as well as state support for colleges.
A true pro-life agenda would include support for increased federal family leave that is paid and increased funding for childcare when parents must inevitably return to work. Without a national childcare policy, the cost of childcare is overwhelming for most families. High-quality childcare both helps child brain development and increases the likelihood that children born into poverty will escape it. The high cost of raising children (including childcare) is also one of the reasons many millennials are choosing not to have children, delaying having children or having fewer. Childcare is a pro-life policy.
Another way to help families would be federal and state financial support for the creation of community-based support centers. Neighborhood community centers can house child care centers, playgrounds, libraries and activities for children as well as health and mental health services for children, adults and older adults in the community. When I lived in Seoul, South Korea, they had this type of center in most neighborhoods.
Lastly, a real pro-life agenda would support gun safety measures. Though arguably the Constitution allows for people to have guns to create militias, it does not say that there can be no limits on gun ownership. In 2020, the leading cause of death for U.S. children was guns. We can do better.
If overturning Roe was the crucial step for their pro-life movement, their next should be to shift their focus from the fetus to the children and their families. A true pro-life agenda would be pro-child and pro-family and would support helping all children reach their potential.
Elizabeth Palley is a former disability rights lawyer and a professor of social work and social policy and Director of the Doctoral Program at the Adelphi University School of Social Work.
