Make Birth Free: Our Inspiration & Viewpoint

THE ATLANTIC

JULY 9, 2022 — By Elizabeth Bruenig — Immediately after the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs came down, anti-abortion groups began distributing press releases celebrating their victory and vowing to get around to something the movement has politically neglected for the past several decades: helping mothers afford children..

COMPACT MAG

January 18, 2023 — By Catherine Glenn Foster & Kristen Day — Childbirth in the United States should be free. Too many couples feel they can’t start or grow their families because of our disordered politics and warped economy. The existing model that erects barriers to family formation and imposes dizzying costs for childbirth is both unworkable and untenable. 

COMPACT MAG

September 2, 2024 — By Patrick Brown — Former President Trump should quietly drop his taxpayer-funded IVF plan and replace it with initiatives aimed at reducing childbirth costs and ensuring every American parent receives direct, upfront assistance in the weeks after welcoming their new addition. 

INSTITUTE FOR FAMILY STUDIES

August 8, 2024 — By Amber Lapp — Shortly after her two-year-old son’s monster-truck-themed birthday party in April, Kaitlyn received an unexpected call from a collection agency about an unpaid bill for his birth—over two years after the fact. Since that time, Kaitlyn and her husband Luke had a third child, a daughter less than a month old at the time of the call. They were simultaneously sorting through those hospital bills, realizing that they would need to come up with over $10,000 to settle accounts. 

PUBLIC DISCLOSURE

June 16, 2024 — By Monica Snyder, Charles C. Camosy and Eric Scheidler— While we continue to seek ways to extend robust legal protection to prenatal children and to persuade our pro-choice brothers and sisters that such laws are necessary to forge a truly just society, we should all be able to come together to stop unwanted abortion. 

CATHOLIC SOCIAL DOCTRINE AND FAMILY POLICY

February 16, 2024 — By Kenneth Craycraft – In response to Dobbs, both pro-life and pro-abortion advocates have been hard at work pressing their representatives to pass abortion-related legislation, or introducing ballot referenda. Individual states have passed laws and regulations related to abortion access, ranging from near total bans on abortion on the one hand, to protecting abortion on demand for any or no reason through term.

WASHINGTON STATE STANDARD

January 21, 2024 — By Sofia Resnick – This year’s annual March for Life brought a message of helping women, with limited proposals. Nearly two years into a post-Roe America, the battle over abortion rights is being waged primarily at the state level, but this year holds multiple opportunities for abortion opponents to effect a national ban. 

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO

May 23, 2023 — By Julie Rovner — The anti-abortion movement once appeared more sensitive to arguments that its policies neglect the needs of women and children. Few anti-abortion groups are following that example by pushing policies to make it easier for people to get pregnant, give birth, and raise children. Most of those efforts are flying under the radar.

NATIONAL CATHOLIC REGISTER

May 12, 2023 — By Mary Frances Tyler – Pro-life advocates’ white paper sparks support — and skepticism — regarding federally funded childbirth. A proposal to make birth free in the United States has sparked discussion among Catholics and other pro-lifers in recent months. 

SOJOURNERS

May, 2023 — By Rosie Marie Berger – “Wisdom speaks her own praises, in the midst of her people she glories in herself.” What a luscious, full-bodied image from the biblical book of Sirach (24:1). Wisdom has sass! In an increasingly combative society, I’m drawn to Sirach’s prudence, poetic excess, and the authoritative agency of Lady Wisdom. I’ve been keeping phrases from Sirach, also known as Ecclesiasticus, in mind as post-Roe legislation rolls across the states. The health of women and children (born and unborn) has been weakened, rather than strengthened

AMERICA MAGAZINE

March 21, 2023 — By Gloria Purvis — If there is one thing that pro-life and pro-choice advocates can agree upon, it’s that the cost of having a baby is significant and often a deterrent for mothers carrying their child to term.

NEWSWEEK

March 14, 2023 — By Ericka Andersen —Nestled behind the polarizing responses to the overturning of Roe v. Wade is a shared goal of caring and providing for women and families in need. There's no reason Republicans and Democrats, pro-choicers and pro-lifers alike, can't come together on this genuine desire.

WASHINGTON EXAMINER

March 6 2023 — By Heather Hunter — Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) expressed support on Sunday for the “worthwhile idea” of “universal free child birth” when he linked to an article titled “Babies are Good” from a conservative magazine on Twitter. “It is true that our nation should have far more policies that promote child birth, and universal free child birth is a really worthwhile idea."

INSTITUTE FOR FAMILY STUDIES

February 7, 2023 — By Allan C. Carlson — In recent years, several pro-life advocates have called for the adoption of a federal policy to “Make Birth Free” by covering 100% of the pregnancy costs of all affected American women.

CATHOLIC REVIEW

February 6 2023 — By Kate Scanlon — Some pro-life leaders have called on Congress to make childbirth free for mothers, while others maintain addressing the financial burden of raising children will make greater impacts on saving lives from abortion.

NISKANEN CENTER

January 31, 2023 — By Robert Orr — Is freeing parents from the financial cost of childbirth a worthwhile goal for public policy? To alleviate these burdens, they propose establishing a new program that would cover the complete cost of birth for all Americans, similar to the assistance that Medicare currently provides for sufferers of advanced kidney disease regardless of age. Yesterday, Allan Carlson made the historical case for this nationwide “affirmation of motherhood and babies.”

FIRST THINGS

January 26, 2023 — By Jonathan Van Maren — As the pro-life movement enters a post-Roe era after Dobbs, the anti-abortion movement is revaluating, looking ahead, and strategizing about ways to reduce abortion through a variety of policies—not only on the supply side, but on the demand side as well. 

CHRISTIANITY TODAY

January 25, 2023 — By Stefani McDade — Last week marked 50 years since the monumental Roe v. Wade case legalized abortion in our country—and seven months since it was overturned. Amid the articles discussing implications for the pro-life movement, one argument in Compact Magazine sparked a ripple of related headlines. 

INSTITUTE FOR FAMILY STUDIES

January 23, 2023 — By Leah Libresco Sargeant — There is a lot to like in the proposal. Building a truly pro-family policy agenda for the future will require political courage and a willingness to think outside the box. It means being frank about how much financial help families need. Like them, we also want to make a big commitment to new parents and lessen the financial burden on families. 

JACOBIN

January 23, 2023 — By Matt Bruenig — The US health care system forces new parents to pay thousands of dollars simply to have their child delivered into the world. That’s absurd. We could easily make childbirth free for all.

THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE

January 20, 2023 — By Bradley Devlin  – A new proposal to make child birth free, promising more healthy babies and fewer abortions, is turning heads. A recent article has sparked some debate on the right this week as the pro-life movement prepares to descend on the imperial city for the first March for Life after Roe.

NEW YORK TIMES

January 19, 2023 — The March for Life, held each year for a half-century, should be a celebration now that Roe v. Wade has fallen. Instead, anti-abortion activists are split over what comes next.

CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY

January 19, 2023 — By Kevin Jones  – Childbirth in America should be free, say two prominent pro-life leaders on both sides of the political divide. Federal funding of all baby deliveries and related costs would help American women, their babies, and their families while reducing abortion rates, they say, and they hope to convince lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to join their cause.

NATIONAL REGISTER

January 18, 2023 — By Wesley J. Smith  – With Roe v. Wade now in the dustbin of history, the pro-life movement is switching gears to the difficult task of persuading the country to reject abortion. Groups in the thick of that fray have now issued a white paper arguing that birth should be free to every mother in the USA.