The case for making childbirth free

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.

“The average privately insured person pays about $2,800 to give birth out of pocket,” Kristen Day, the executive director of Democrats For Life of America, says. “And one in six new parents pay over $5,000. But those women without insurance pay thousands more, up to $20,000.”

For the penultimate episode of the second season of “The Gloria Purvis Show,” Gloria is joined once more by Kristen, the author of the book Democrats For Life: Pro-Life Politics and the Silenced Majority. Recently, Kristen co-authored a paper “Make Birth Free,” and the two discuss the merits of this case, along with the challenges to making this vision a reality.

“I think from the pro-life side, if you’re serious about ending abortion, this is one way that we need to do it,” Kristen says. “And from the pro-choice side, if you really are pro-choice, then we need to support choice. And alleviating the cost of child birth, instead of funding abortion, should be a priority for both sides.”

Related articles:

Elizabeth Bruenig’s article “Make Birth Free”