In his Monday article, Michael Gallagher argues that Minnesotans should be divested of any right to taxpayer-funded abortion – regardless of their circumstances. His article suggests that Minnesota funds all abortions, and that this is a drain on taxpayer funds in a time of budgetary crisis. Unsurprisingly, the opposite is true.
First, Minnesota allows only women on Medicaid to obtain public funds for abortion. The Minnesota Supreme Court in Doe v. Gomez recognized that if the state funded only pregnancy but not abortion for poor women, those impoverished women would be forced into having babies against their will.
Second, far from being a drain on Minnesotas finances, state funding for poor women’s abortions saves taxpayers incredible amounts of money. We taxpayers can pay $300 to fund an impoverished woman’s abortion – or $20,000 for her pregnancy (thats what my routine pregnancy cost).
If Gallagher’s figures are correct, and there have been 24,000 state-funded abortions in Minnesota at a cost of $6 million, then we taxpayers saved around $474 million dollars in pregnancy-related medical care alone by giving those impoverished women the power to choose abortion. This is not to mention the welfare costs saved.
Finally, those who care about born children should also welcome taxpayer funding of abortion for poor women. The inevitable results of denying the opportunity to have an abortion are abused and neglected children.
Gallagher talks much about the rights of not-yet-born people – predictably ignoring the rights of those already born, in whose shoes he will never have to walk. He quotes the “life” portion of the Declaration of Independence – what a surprise that he leaves out “liberty” and “the pursuit of happiness,” without which life is fairly meaningless. Let’s talk about the consequences of his proposal on the lives of born, breathing women – just like half the people reading this, or their daughters, mothers, sisters and friends.
Hannah Stein
University law student
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