The Economic Impact of Abortion

Beyond the arguments of being a legal right or a moral wrong, abortion may be causing serious damage to the U.S. economy.

Since the legalization of abortion by the Supreme Court decisions Doe vs. Bolton, and Roe vs. Wade, numerous pro-life groups have attempted to explain and persuade abortion adherents that the practice is a wrongful act that dills a human being, encourages teen sexuality, and is dangerous for women. Since 1972 the debate on these aspects of abortion has run full circle, several ties, with little indication that most people are changing their minds about abortion.

How do American feel about abortion? A Los Angeles Times survey done in 1989 found that while 62 percent of Americans believe abortion is murder, 78 percent believe that whether or not a woman has an abortion should be made by the woman for herself. Most Americans believe that abortion is wrong, but believe a woman she be allowed the freedom to commit that wrongful act – even if they agree it is murder.

One argument about abortion has been overlooked by the pro-life community. Pro-abortion forces have used the argument, quote successfully, that if abortion is outlawed many women on welfare, teenage girls and families in poverty will not have the means to care for the child. The child will be both unwanted and unprovided for.

The argument is purely economic – a person should be allowed to have an abortion for nothing other than financial reasons. Do abortions take place solely because of personal economics? According to the Alan Gutmacher Institute, the research arm of Planned Parenthood, 68 percent of abortions are performed because the woman or family “Can’t afford the baby now.” That number rises to 76 percent when considering all of the person’s lifestyle concerns. This begs the question: What is an affordable baby?

In 1990 only 164,000 live births out of 4,179,000 were to families that make under $15,000 annually – 4 percent. According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and the Alan Gutmacher Institute, 33 percent of abortions are had by families making over $25,000 a year. Families making under $25,000 account for 64 percent of abortions.

A child is certainly a large responsibility. Birthing costs alone can run from $2,000 for a vaginal birth to well over $10,000 for each C-section. Abortion costs very little. Depending upon how far along the pregnancy is the procedure can run from $230 to nearly $700 for late term abortions (12 weeks or more). Abortion can actually save a family a lot of money, help a woman complete her education, or put off a responsibility she may not be ready to handle. Right?

Rethinking the Cost of Abortion
The moral and religious implications aside, it can be shown that abortion actually costs Americans more economically than it has saved. Pro-abortion forces rationalize that more babies born means more resources used and more federal and state monies needed for welfare and other programs. Let’s take a look, however, at the other side of the coin. How many dollars are lost to the economy because of abortion?

This article makes the assumption that all people – born or unborn – are consumers. Everyone buys good and services from someone to meet certain needs: food, housing, transportation, health care, education, etc. Even a newborn is a consumer. Parents must buy food, diapers, clothing, furniture, medicines, and other essentials for every child. When a consumer dies he no longer has a need for money to be spent to care for his needs.

The abortion industry makes multi-millions every year. Using just the number of known abortions in 1988 (1,590,000), abortionists raked in a minimum estimate of $376 million (1). Compare that with over $6 billion taken in by hospitals for vaginal deliveries and anther $9 billion for C-sections (2). Had the 1.6 million abortions in just 1989 been births instead, hospitals could have pulled in an additional minimum of $3 billion (3).

If abortion had remained illegal since 1972 what would the rate pf pregnancy and births realistically be? There is no easy answer, but we can extrapolate from data used by the National Center for Health Statistics.

There have been (roughly) 30 million abortions since 1973, averaging 1.6 million each year. There have been over 70 million live births during that same period. However, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, the “Intrinsic Rate of Natural Increase” (projected population growth based upon births and deaths) has actually decreased by an average of 5.4 percent since Roe vs. Wade made abortion legal. Using figures from 1960 to 1970 the Intrinsic Rate of Natural Increase might have been 3.49 percent without Roe vs. Wade (4). Therefore, if abortion had remained illegal, a conservative estimate of 130,211 more children would have been born alive each year from 973 to 1991 – a total of 2,343,798 (5).

There is an obvious difference in the number of abortions per year and this projected figure. Since 1973 nearly 30 million children have been aborted in American alone. Why then is the projected figure for births in the above paragraph so low? First, the figure is an absolute minimum conservative estimate. There is no way to measure the effect of sex education, pop culture, and the media’s effect on the pregnancy rate apart from the status quo of legal abortion. Second, the figure of 2,343,798 represents the number of births that would have taken place, according to the already existing trends up until 1970, in addition to the normal rate if abortion had remained illegal. This reveals something startling: With nearly 28 million more abortions than the birth figure of 2 million we can conclude that abortion really does promote increased sexual activity. When it is easy to use abortion as “birth control” more women are apt to get pregnant. According to the Alan Gutmacher Institute, most women get abortions for birth control reasons, to the tune of 76 percent.

If abortion had remained illegal the number of pregnancies would have actually been much lower. This poses an interesting problem for abortion advocates. If abortion does not encourage more sexual activity, then groups like Planned Parenthood are in quandary to explain the high rate or pregnancies that have taken place in 1973’s Roe vs. Wade decision. If, however, abortion does encourage more sexual activity and pregnancy as the data would seem to suggest, then the abortion industry is self-perpetuating and exploitive of women.

2,343,798 Consumers Killed
The potential impact of killing over 2 million American citizens at any age is staggering. Again, beginning with the assumption that everyone is a consumer, that means that over 2 million people will not buy goods and services of every type, get an education, and contribute to the health of society. Already illustrated here is the impact on health care, with a lost of $3 billion annually from hospitals which don’t receive revenues from each abortion that could have been a live birth. But what is the effect on other industries when 2 million people die?

All it takes is a quick look through your own checkbook to see how much money is spent on your children. From diapers to medical care, food and clothing, education and toys, and much more; 2 million people times the dollars lost is a staggering loss to the economy. Even at 1975 food prices losses in food dollars for every on of the 2,343,798 abortions totals $199,222,830 for just the first year of care alone (6) ($4.1 billion extrapolated for 21 years of abortion). Almost unbelievable are the dollars lost from textiles, manufacturing, raw industries and more. The U.S. tax base is also deflated because of abortion. When dollars aren’t spent on a consumer’s needs, taxes are not collected.

Abortion Growth and Job Loss
It might be argued that the dollars lost from converting births to abortions are already spent elsewhere and are not really lost to the economy. But this is not true. What makes an economy healthy is how dollars are moved from one sector to another. When money is not spent by consumers we call that a recession or economic slowdown. When dollars are circulating at a regular or growing pace that signifies a healthy economy. Even according to the simple principle of supply and demand, if 2 million more children would have been born instead of 30 million abortions, far more dollars would have been spent on birth and care for children into adulthood.

According figures supplied by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, it takes $36,000 of consumer spending to create one new job (7). As Americans saw with the recent recession, dollars lost directly equals jobs lost. The job loss to the food industry alone is 5,534 jobs (8). According to some economists, every new job can create 2-3 spin-off jobs, which would bring the total loss to 16,602. That’s 332 jobs per state (9) – just for the food industry. If pro-abortionists maintain that abortion does not promote more pregnancy, then it can be argued that 30 million abortions equals a financial loss to food industries of $2.55 billion for the first year of a child’s life ($1.124 trillion in adjusted dollars for 21 years of abortion). That’s 212,500 jobs nationwide; 4,250 jobs per state (10).

Not Just a Family Issue
This short analysis of abortion’s impact on the American economy illustrates that abortion is not just a family issue. Its impact resonates in every area of our society, including our economy. Those concerned with the country’s economic growth, our ability to compete internationally, and job stability should see that a vote against abortion is not only a vote preserve life, but a vote to provide a regular stimulus to the economy.

This analysis is not perfect. Many of the figures used, such as consumer dollars and birth rates were taken from 1960’s and 1970’s to present highly conservative estimate. In reality the consumer price index and birth rates, and employment data change monthly. A more thorough study should be commissioned so we can better understand the damage done to the American economy through abortion.

It is said that our children are our future. The effect of legalized abortion of the past 20 years should illustrate well that the future for families, culture, and our economy remains jeopardized as long as abortion remains a cheap commodity.