The nation may soon see stricter gestational limits on abortion.
Idaho passed a heartbeat bill last week that, if upheld, will ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. Meanwhile, bills in Florida and Arizona awaiting their respective governors’ signatures would restrict most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
It’s good that states are taking action to restrict abortion. The Supreme Court may overturn Roe v. Wade when it decides Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization later this year; it could give states the power to restrict abortion before 20 weeks. However, supply is only one part of the abortion equation. Demand is the other factor.
Both red and blue states can and should do more to reduce the demand for abortion as well.
The leading cause of abortion is a response to unintended pregnancies among low-income women. Preventing those pregnancies from happening in the first place reduces abortion, taxpayer-funded abortion, and welfare costs. Expanding access to birth control is thus one way to reduce these pregnancies. Allowing women to get hormonal birth control over the counter or directly from a pharmacist offers a welcome limited government solution to the problem. Free condom programs help reduce pregnancy, STDs, and welfare costs; and providing low-income women with free long-term birth control (such as IUDs) helps solve the unintended pregnancy and welfare problems as well.
These kinds of programs can pay for themselves. Cost savings and fewer unintended pregnancies are also why the federal government should increase Title X funding — specifically to places that don’t provide abortion. Outside of expanded birth control, there are several other options.
Implementing age-appropriate sex education that teaches fetal development and doesn’t include woke, left-wing garbage would help. And since many women cite financial constraints as the top reason why they have abortions, policymakers should find ways to increase financial support for those women who need it. Prenatal child support is one way to do that. Creating state-level child tax credits is another. Policies such as banning nonconsensual condom removal (stealthing), eliminating parental rights for rapists, expanding safe haven laws, and allowing close-relative adoption could also help mitigate the problem.
Sadly, there isn’t one button we can push to end abortion. However, politicians across the country can at least work to reduce instances of abortion — even if they cannot end it entirely.
Tom Joyce ( @TomJoyceSports ) is a political reporter for the New Boston Post in Massachusetts.
