More Babies or Better Care for Newborns?

This article is part of the series, “Left Hook Economics: The Dollars & Sense Policy Forum.”

Nancy Folbre posits that most “pronatalist” policies seriously underestimate the costs and risks of raising children in today’s economic environment. Folbre contends that “the so-called pro-life movement … implicitly endorses pronatalism, with little regard for the consequences. The oft-repeated promise that states would respond to restrictions on abortion access by providing more support for mothers has proved completely empty… .

“No state that has banned abortion offers paid family and medical leave from employment, and none of the 9 states that offer paid family and medical leave has banned abortion.”