Essay: Pro-life should mean....

Hey, you're pro-life? Great! Life is really awesome.

But if you're really "pro-life," ask yourself a question: "Does my obligation to do whatever is best for that fetus end when it comes flying out from between a woman's legs?"

Now that Roe seems to be in the rear-view mirror, it's time for "pro-lifers" to put their awesome political commitment and energy into supporting the lives they were protecting when they were inside a uterus. Things like fully-funded pre-maternal care and paid parental leave. If you were deeply invested in that human being before he was breathing air, well, l don't see how that commitment ends in the maternity ward.

A recent essay in the journal American Conservative argues that:

"If a woman considers herself too destitute to care for a child, there is no transvaginal ultrasound demoralizing enough and no accompanying narration excoriating enough to make her decision seem any less plausible. The specter of criminalization in some pro-life discourse is equally disturbing: surely the penal carceral system is the very last structure we would relegate poor mothers to. Even pro-life picketers seem to recognize as much. Fortunately, if the goal really is reducing abortion and supporting the ability of mothers to care for their infants, the data directs us to a very intuitive solution: give would-be moms, especially the poorest, the financial boost they need to give birth while maintaining financial security. A child allowance program fits the bill neatly."