Abortion as an economic issue

Abortion need not have any relation to fiscal policy to be the weightiest issue in American politics today, regardless of our current economic circumstances. But it does happen to be related, in a couple ways.

First, the state and federal governments spend a lot of taxpayer money promoting abortion. As Timothy Carney writes, there are "some fairly obvious overlaps [between economics and] the pro-life cause -- for instance, Obamacare's subsidization of abortion." There's also:

• the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars that subsidize Planned Parenthood (the leading abortion provider)
• the taxpayer dollars that promote abortion overseas (after the Mexico City Policy was overturned)
• the taxpayer dollars supporting the pro-abortion United Nations Population Fund
• the $23 million we spent to pass a new constitution in Kenya that legalized abortion on demand
• the millions we spend with Minnesota tax dollars to directly pay for elective abortions
• the taxpayer dollars used to fund obsolete research that requires the killing of human beings in the embryonic stage of their development

That's a lot of money we could save, or put to better use. Our abortion-funding policies should be a concern for anyone worried about taxes, spending, deficits and bailouts. As Rep. Mike Pence said recently:

To those who say we should focus on cutting spending, I say, OK. Let's start by cutting all federal funding for abortion at home and abroad. ... You wanna find savings? Let's cut funding to research that destroys human embryos ... and let's deny funding to Planned Parenthood of America! We must not remain silent when great moral battles are being waged.

Second, abortion itself (killing our offspring, 1.2 million per year in the United States) predictably has an impact on society in many ways, including economically. "Abortion is an economic issue," Tom Glessner writes, because "America's most valuable natural resources are human beings who through the creative genius of the human spirit create innovative ways to overcome problems. Abortion has destroyed a large portion of this natural resource."

Glessner recommends this website to better understand the financial cost of abortion.