Being barred from getting an abortion when you want one is likely to have long-term effects—effects more people will be feeling for years to come thanks to harsh abortion bans that are now the law in 14 states. And, a surprisingly good Associated Press article points out, low-wage workers are particularly likely to suffer.
The AP interviewed two women who were able to have abortions when they needed them, focusing on how it would have affected their lives. One, 24-year-old Alyssa Burns, had been homeless not all that long ago and was still paying off the debt from breaking a lease as she left an abusive relationship. She and her boyfriend—who want to have a child at some point—were sharing a two-bedroom apartment with another couple, and she was earning $16 an hour working in a warehouse.
“When you try to discuss the alternatives, you find the problems. If we could do this, where is the baby going to stay?” she said. “We both work full-time jobs. My mom works. We can’t afford child care.” Having a child under those circumstances would mean losing income and gaining expenses. We don’t have to rely on common sense or anecdotes to see the outcome of that.
Since not having a child, Burns told the AP, “We have spent the last year and a half trying to get our financial stuff together and trying to get our health together, trying to get to the point where we could probably do it and not damage the child with our own problems.” Gosh, that sounds reasonable and responsible.
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According to the Turnaway Study, a University of California San Francisco research project studying the effects of unwanted pregnancy:
- Women who were turned away and went on to give birth experienced an increase in household poverty lasting at least four years relative to those who received an abortion.
- Years after an abortion denial, women were more likely to not have enough money to cover basic living expenses like food, housing and transportation.
- Being denied an abortion lowered a woman’s credit score, increased a woman’s amount of debt and increased the number of their negative public financial records, such as bankruptcies and evictions.
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Additionally, women in abusive relationships are both more likely to remain tied to their violent partners and more likely to end up raising a child alone. The children of women who sought and were not able to obtain abortions are disproportionately likely to live in poverty, and maternal bonding with a child suffers in cases where the mother was denied an abortion.
These aren’t isolated cases: According to a 2014 study by the Guttmacher Institute, 49% of abortion patients were below the federal poverty level and another 26% had incomes less than double the poverty level. Well over half had given birth previously.
The AP also talked to a married hairstylist with one young child, who was hoping to go back to work but struggling to afford child care for her toddler. She learned she was pregnant soon after Texas’ six-week abortion ban went into effect and had to go to New Mexico for an abortion. Despite getting financial help from Planned Parenthood, she and her husband still incurred $1,000 in expenses thanks to the Texas ban. Even without a second child, she ended up moving with her toddler to live with her parents, where their babysitting enables her to work two days a week.
“We’ve been playing catch up for the longest time,” she said.
The facts about the economic outcomes for low-income women who are denied abortions are powerful. So are their stories. For balance, the AP talked to a couple of highly credentialed abortion opponents who said it would be nice if there were policies to support low-income parents, as if the policymakers intent on banning abortion were not also the same policymakers blocking policies like paid family and medical leave, universal health care, affordable child care, a livable minimum wage, and more.
“Having a baby is harder when you’re poor. But I don’t think the poor’s interest or the elite’s interest are served by eliminating a child conceived into difficult circumstances,” Catherine Pakaluk, an assistant professor of social research and economic thought at the Catholic University of America, told the AP. “That’s why the poor should be 100% the focus of any kind of policymaking.”
Generous of her to speak to “the poor’s interest” for the people actually living in those circumstances. And as for the focus of policymaking? Get back to me when Republicans dedicate one-tenth of the energy to policies that might make more people conclude that having a child would not be financially ruinous in a life-altering way that they do to passing abortion bans. Actually, never mind putting energy toward passing those policies, get back to me when Republicans simply get out of the way of Democrats doing so. We all know it’s going to be a long, long wait for that.
Erika Bachicho, a legal scholar who likewise thinks states should pass more parent-friendly policies, told the AP, “Abortion has been the privileged response to female poverty and the plight of low-wage workers in this country.”
Privileged response? No, abortion access has long been supported by the same people who also want to increase the minimum wage and pass the parent-friendly policies that abortion opponents block time and time again. There’s a reason the states banning abortion also have the highest levels of maternal and infant mortality, along with children living in poverty and without health insurance.
And you know what? Even if there was a $20 minimum wage and six months of paid parental leave and universal health coverage and free child care, some people would still not want to be pregnant or have children, and that would be their right. But let’s really not pretend that giving lip service to the idea that at some point it would be nice to support parents a little more makes your opposition to abortion a position sympathetic to low-income women.
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Abortion has been the number one topic for campaign ads this year, so we're talking with veteran ad maker Kelly Grace Gibson, the founder of the women-led Stronger Than Comms, about how Democrats are pressing their advantage on this episode of The Downballot. Gibson walks us through the nuts and bolts of how ads actually get made; how Democrats have shown unusual message discipline on abortion while simultaneously tailoring their messages to different audiences; and why she has hope for some progressive candidates and ballot measures even in difficult states.