Pro-life writer Josh Craddock believes pro-life lawmakers could save lives by hitting the billion-dollar abortion industry where it hurts the most: its pocketbook.
Writing at Public Discourse, Craddock proposed an abortion tax and several other ideas for pro-life lawmakers as the U.S. Supreme Court considers overturning Roe v. Wade this summer. The infamous 1973 ruling led to the deaths of more than 63 million unborn babies in abortions.
“After decades of tragedy and intense efforts, grassroots pro-life voters expect their elected representatives to do everything in their constitutional power to protect life,” he wrote.
Abortion is a billion-dollar industry in America, and a heavy tax on abortion facilities and abortion drug companies could go a long way toward stopping abortions and saving babies’ lives, Craddock said.
He continued:
… pro-life legislators should at the very least tax abortion providers and abortion-pill manufacturers as a mechanism for promoting a pro-life social policy. …
Just as Congress’s taxing power has been used to all-but prohibit automatic firearms and to effectively require individuals to purchase health insurance, a special ‘sin tax’ on abortion providers and abortion-pill manufacturers (perhaps $2,500 for each abortion performed or pill prescribed) could—consistent with Supreme Court precedent—regulate individual behavior and cripple the abortion industry.
Because the abortion tax is spending-related, he said the legislation would have a better chance of passing the U.S. Senate. Most pro-life bills must receive at least 60 votes to overcome a filibuster in the Senate, and this threshold has been a major obstacle for pro-life legislation, even when Republicans hold the majority. There is a different rule for spending bills, however.
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“This provision could be enacted into law with fifty-one Senate votes through the reconciliation process, and could be added to must-pass legislation,” Craddock said.
With the growing possibility that Roe will be overturned soon, he said pro-life lawmakers must be ready to act.
“Pro-life legislators should seize the opportunity to enact a post-Roe legislative agenda that both empowers parents to raise their children and effectively prohibits abortion. Both goals are well within Congress’s constitutional power,” Craddock said.
Pro-life lawmakers have been working for decades to pass laws at the state and federal level that protect unborn babies from abortion, but many of them have been struck down in court. Because of Roe and later abortion rulings, state and federal lawmakers have been prohibited from banning abortions before unborn babies are viable, about 22 weeks of pregnancy.
In December, Mississippi directly challenged that precedent in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. Many hope the justices will overturn or at least chip away at Roe and allow laws that protect unborn babies’ right to life again. Their ruling is expected sometime this summer, likely in June.
