Abortion may seem an unlikely topic for the Senate Committee on the Budget to tackle, but Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said in his opening statement that “reproductive rights ... are intrinsically tied to economic opportunity.”
It is possible to measure economic harm from dismantling Roe v. Wade, he said of the Supreme Court decision that returned to the states the power to legislate on abortion access.
“The Dobbs decision triggered an immediate crisis for millions of women as antiquated state bans snapped back into place, and some states implemented new restrictions on reproductive freedom,” Mr. Whitehouse said on Feb. 28.
“Reproductive freedom and choice, including abortions and contraception ... increases the probability that women attend college and boosts local economies. Freedom turns out to have economic value.”
Committee Ranking Republican Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) responded that abortion is a moral and legal issue that does not lend itself to being looked at solely through an economic lens.
“After all, life is priceless,” Mr. Grassley said. “There’s a reason this committee historically hasn’t delved into this issue. It’s not an issue easily distilled down to dollars and cents, typical of budget issues that this committee normally works on. In fact, it is rather dehumanizing.”
Numerous programs exist at the federal, state, and local levels to help women, children, and families in need, he said, noting that Congress should focus on reforms that increase coordination between all the federal programs and simplify access to these programs. And it should eliminate marriage penalties in tax laws.
“Yes, having and raising children has cost. But so does abortion on demand, and a culture that lacks respect for life,” Mr. Grassley said.
“I’m pro-life, pro-family, pro-woman. These views are not in conflict.”
Experts Speak
The discussion was part of a hearing titled “No Rights to Speak of: The Economic Harms of Restricting Reproductive Freedom,” and it included five witnesses offering opposing viewpoints: mother and abortion activist Allie Phillips; Caitlin Myers, economics professor at Middlebury College; Dr. Leilah Zahedi-Spung, who specializes in Maternal Fetal Medicine and performs abortions; Leslie Ford, adjunct fellow at the Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility at the American Enterprise Institute; and Tamra Call, a registered nurse and the executive director of Obria Medical Clinic in Ames, Iowa.Ms. Phillips tearfully testified about her experience in Tennessee when she and her husband learned at 19 weeks into her pregnancy that the baby girl they were expecting had severe congenital issues, including having formed only two of the four chambers in her heart. The news left her completely broken, she said. She could not get an abortion in Tennessee, although since then, in April 2023, the state has passed exceptions allowing access to abortions for ectopic or molar pregnancies, for miscarriages, to save the pregnant patient’s life, and to prevent “substantial and irreversible” harm to the body of the pregnant person.
“Ultimately, I found a clinic in New York City that could get me in the following week. Then I had to book flights, find a hotel, arrange ground transportation and childcare,” she said. “We had to quickly figure out how to afford all of it. We didn’t have thousands of dollars sitting in our bank account. I had to start a GoFundMe effort online to help cover the unexpected medical and travel costs. Without the help of strangers on the internet, I would not have had the freedom to leave Tennessee or to make my own decisions.”
By the time Ms. Phillips arrived in New York, a scan showed that the baby’s heart had stopped beating. The baby was surgically removed.
Throughout the hearing, Democrat speakers returned to her, expressing sympathy for the difficult situation she experienced.
“It’s very hard for me to be here today to talk about it,” Ms. Phillips said. “But I know how important it is. Because my experience isn’t exclusive. It’s not unique. Millions of women face what I do every day.”
Abortion and the Economy
Ms. Myers is a labor economist who has studied the effects of contraception and abortion access on demographic, health, and economic outcomes.“I am not here as an activist. I am here as a scientist presenting facts and evidence on how reproductive policy is also fundamentally economic policy,” she testified.
The legalization of abortion reduced teen motherhood by one-third and reduced teen marriages by one-fifth, and it allowed women to complete their education and increase their earnings, according to Ms. Myers.
Abortion improved the lives of children, reducing the number living in poverty and the number experiencing abuse or neglect, she said. As they grew into adulthood, these children themselves had higher rates of college graduation, had lower rates of single parenthood, and were less likely to be poor.
Abortion and Politics
Several members repeatedly used the phrase “anti-abortion extremism” in overt political attacks.
“Since Republicans overturned Roe v. Wade, reproductive rights have really been under attack like never before in our country,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said.
“When Republican politicians take away a woman’s control over her own body, they’re also taking away women’s ability to plan their families, their finances, and their futures on their own terms. There is a deeply cruel irony faced by women who are unable to get abortion because of cost. Women who are forced to stay pregnant by Republican politicians.”
Ms. Murray asked rhetorically: If someone cannot afford to get the health care she needs, what will happen when she’s forced to have that child?
“Republican anti-abortion extremism doesn’t just mean forcing women to stay pregnant,“ she said. ”Ultimately, it often means women forced out of the workforce and into financial hardship with no support to speak of.”
“If reelected, Trump could abuse executive power to remove mifepristone from markets or try to prevent abortion medications or even contraceptives from going through the federal mail,” Mr. Whitehouse said. “Generations of women fought for the freedom to make their own personal decisions. They fought and they won, and their victory brought economic gains, in which we all share. But now extremists are trying to undo it all, leaving young women and girls in America with fewer rights than their grandmothers.”
He called on Congress to codify abortion and contraception access into law.
Ahead of the hearing, SBA Pro-Life America’s vice president of communications, Emily Erin Davis, issued the following comment:
“I know firsthand what it’s like to be pregnant and poor in this country. I was living in a motel, with a rundown car, waiting tables just to get by. Because of this, there were many in my ear who felt my child and I were the perfect candidates for abortion. In their words, it was essential, due to my lack of finances and prospects.
“Today, our federal government is that voice in the ear of every woman with an unplanned pregnancy. We look on as our government spends copious amounts of money and messaging to support and affirm disenfranchised communities all around the world. But when it comes to moms of unplanned pregnancies in America, their message is clear: You can’t do it.”
Their efforts now go to pushing abortion as the primary choice, Ms. Davis said.
“Instead of incentivizing a pathway to a future for our families, our government now implies that we are doing the country a favor by getting rid of our child,” she said. “This is what Democrats demand today, to use abortion to fix our economy on the backs of us, moms, and our children. But it won’t fix anything.”
