States That Ban Abortion Should Pay the People Forced to Give Birth
A new South Carolina bill says the state needs to cover medical expenses for pregnant people and babies born as a result of abortion bans.
by Susan Rinkunas
Dec 16 2019
Last week, a South Carolina state senator filed an incredible bill that every pro-choice lawmaker in the U.S. should copy. It says that if the state wants to ban abortion, it should have to pay all of the costs of birthing and raising children born as a result. SB 928 says that anyone forced to give birth against their will would be acting as a gestational surrogate for the state—literal labor for which they should be compensated.
The genius legislation is called the Pro Birth Accountability Act—a not-so-subtle reference to the idea that anti-abortion lawmakers who consider themselves to be “pro-life” tend to be conservatives who also typically don’t support programs like Medicaid expansion, food assistance, and paid family leave, which would help people have healthy pregnancies and babies. In short, the bill asserts, they’re not pro-life, they’re pro-birth.
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