Creating a culture of life looks like defending the unborn and continuing to support them after they are born. The pro-life movement has spent the past 50 years creating the structures necessary to support life.
In a recent opinion piece published in The Nation the claim was made that, “the so-called pro-life movement couldn’t care less about the living.” Despite the accusations of pro-abortion advocates, the pro-life community has pioneered new approaches to helping babies and their mothers before and after birth.
Across the country pro-life legislation, in states like Arkansas, has taken significant steps to ensure that
mothers and their children are cared for. Governor Sanders signed a measure which awarded $2 million to support pregnancy centers as well as infant and maternal wellness in the state.
Other states have passed similar laws like West Virginia’s HB2002 which established the West Virginia Mothers and Babies Support Program. This allocated $1 million to help pregnant women and families with infants.
In fact, according to a report by the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), 22 states that passed pro-life protections—which would have been impossible under Roe—have extended post-partum Medicare coverage. These efforts of the pro-life community have extended beyond state politics and inspired policy proposals from presidential candidates.
Vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance proposed an increased child tax credit (CTC) to help families with young children. Currently the child tax credit is $2,000 thanks to the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act which increased it from $1,000. Vance suggested that he would like to see the tax credit increase to $5,000 per child regardless of a family’s income.
Vice President and Presidential nominee Kamala Harris similarly proposed an increase in the CTC. Her proposal comes in the form of a one-time $6,000 tax credit for parents of newborns in the first year of their life. After the first year of a child’s life the standard child tax credit would resume.
The United States faces a below-replacement fertility rate. This alarming trend must be reversed. If couples do not resume having babies, programs like Social Security will be strained beyond their limits, and the overall economic consequences will be devastating.
Thankfully, the efforts of the pro-life community are so significant that they have shaped discussions at the national level. Fighting to defend the right to life is paramount. Each child deserves to be protected from the evils of abortion. After they are born, the pro-life community continues to support them. This is what creating a pro-life culture looks like.
Protecting life,
Brad Mattes,
President, Life Issues Institute
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