A pro-life idea from a pro-abortion source

Attempting to ridicule pro-lifers, an Oklahoma Democratic state legislator fumbled his pro-abortion messaging when he accidentally affirmed a position held by many pro-life constituents. After a Republican lawmaker proposed a bill to protect unborn children from abortion except for life-saving measures for the mother, Rep. Forrest Bennett put forth legislation to require child support to begin at conception and tweeted the following:

“This week I filed HB3129, which codifies that a father’s financial responsibility to his baby & their mom begins at conception. If Oklahoma is going to restrict a woman’s right to choose, we sure better make sure the man involved can’t just walk away from his responsibility.”

Bennett intended to dunk on Republicans, but—like many of his pro-abortion colleagues—he was unaware such legislation actually would be consistent with a pro-life ethic. Pro-lifers would welcome legislation that would stipulate that life begins at conception and would offer support to expecting mothers. Those familiar with the abortion debate know that the vast majority of women who choose abortion cite financial hardship as a factor. Were bills like this one to pass nationwide, hundreds of thousands of vulnerable women would be immediately financially supported and empowered to choose life.

Bennett was, of course, quickly harangued on Twitter by pro-abortion colleagues and supporters identifying his “error”—and he subsequently apologized for the messaging. But it was too late. Bennett had already uttered the forbidden words: baby and mother—or what liberals often refer to as “fetus” and “person with a uterus.” Terms like “baby,” however, expose abortion for what it is: the intentional killing of a human being.

​​There are plenty of other moral realities that must be embraced as more states pass pro-life legislation. Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973, at least 75 percent of all abortions have been performed on single women. And in some states, up to 70 percent of single mothers do not receive any kind of child support. Bennett’s bill could help create a more father-present culture, where such financial investment spurs earlier care from fathers, helping create more enduring connections.

Women have borne the reality of these little lives in the form of morning sickness, doctor’s appointments, fatigue, weight gain, and other factors since the beginning of time. For men, babies may not seem real until they’re visible. Immediate financial responsibility will help fathers get attuned to the price tag of babyhood and the reality of what their sexual partner is carrying. It costs around $80 a month to provide disposable diapers for one child, according to the National Diaper Bank. If a baby is formula-fed for the first year of life, the formula itself will cost more than $1,000, and babies quickly move up from one size to the next in clothing—something that doesn’t end until adulthood, you may have noticed.

Babies cost a lot, and that’s why pro-lifers take the needs of women and their families seriously by offering resources through pregnancy centers, churches, and non-profit groups and pushing legislation like child support at conception.

Child support is intended to support the immediate needs of the child—things like food and housing. Since a baby acquires those things from his or her mother, it is the appropriate measure to ensure those needs are adequately met. After all, if babies aren’t fed correctly in utero, they can become malnourished, resulting in future health problems or survival through the precarious time spent in the womb. That development time in utero is, in fact, the most critical time in one’s entire life. The major organs that will sustain babies for a lifetime are developing at this point.

It’s hard to believe we’ve gone this long without requiring child support from the beginning. Medical insurance covers prenatal appointments and hospital births to ensure a baby is well cared for. Child support is a comparable resource to protect an unborn child’s well-being.

The only people this legislation would be bad news for are men who don’t want to take responsibility.

But to pro-abortion advocates, providing for a pregnant mother from conception would be admitting that she’s carrying a human being. So, they criticized Bennett, thinking the rest of us can’t see why. This legislation, however, is exactly what we need to help women feel like abortion isn’t just illegal but unthinkable. Slowly, but surely, we’re moving toward an America that truly values the right to life it claims to extol.