It's the Economy, Stupid: The Economic Ramifications of Abortion

            Morality has cast a long shadow over the abortion debate in the United States. Politicians and their constituents have dug deep trenches as to how they view the morality of abortion. Conservatives feel it is immoral to kill an unborn human life, while Liberals have insisted that it is immoral for the government to control the bodies of women. What is obvious is that neither side has made much headway with each other using their ‘moral’ argument. I see another route to create some common ground over the issue. For all of the talk about the morality of abortion, why are the economic ramifications not raised?

            When election time comes the economy is usually one of voters primary concerns. In a Gallup poll spanning from October of 2018 to April of 2019, the economy was viewed as the third most important problem facing the country behind poor leadership/ the government and immigration. People care about the economy when they head to the polls. It helps them decide who they will support and what policies they want. Yet, when it comes to abortion this, usually, important factor seems to go to the wayside. For men and women alike the economics of abortions should be one of their primary concerns.

            Economies at their barebones are about people. What people decide to make. What people decide to buy. What people do. Abortions or lack thereof have the ability to add or subtract a person from the economy. Yet, with all the focus on the fetus, there is little concern for the mother. The economic impact of having an abortion doesn’t stop at the fetus. Which raises the question; how does having a child affect the economic outcome of the mother?

            The gender pay gap in western nations has been closing but has yet to be demolished. For something that the world’s most powerful nations have been trying to curb why has it remained so persistent? The answer is motherhood. Mothers earn dramatically less than women without kids. Gender discrimination in pay, historically, is relatively small today until a woman has a child. Which, brings us back to the abortion debate. Women become economically less powerful the moment they have a child. Suddenly, a moral debate becomes a debate of dollars and cents.

            When society limits women’s access to abortion, they are in fact limiting their access to economic mobility and prosperity. Whatever the rationale is for paying mothers less the reality still remains the same. A study in Denmark, a country with a similar gender pay-gap as the United States, found that women, after having their first child, earned close to 20% less than they had prior to having their child. What is even more striking is that the decrease in pay is not a short-term setback, but rather, sets a course for women to earn far less over the next decade. Women would not reach the level of pay seen prior to their pregnancy until 6 years after the birth of their child. (I found these graphics from a New York Times article from February 2018 on the subject)

 

            The reasons why this pay-gap emerges or exists is of little consequence as it is a reality that is only faced by women. As seen in the next chart, men do not see any real decrease in pay by becoming a father compared to remaining childless.

It is a sad sight that women, by bringing future generations into existence, are economically punished. The fact that Denmark, a country with strong subsidies for childcare, sees this dramatic of a turn in the economic fortunes of its women due to childbirth should raise concern for Americans.

            The decision to be 'pro' or 'anti' abortion should not be exclusively viewed through a moral prism. We ask about the morality of the economy, and thus we should question the economy of morality. When women are denied an abortion and have a child as a result, their economic future is dramatically altered to their detriment. Is it moral to have an abortion? Is it moral for a woman to have to earn less for having a child? Is it moral for the government to decide? These are all difficult questions for people, but we should not turn a blind eye to the economic realities of motherhood simply because it is not deemed a moral question. I’ll ask one more question. How moral does it feel to have money taken away from you over a decision you could not make?