By Victoria Cobb, President
The Family Foundation of Virginia
In the words of former Governor and U.S. Senate Candidate Tim Kaine, “It’s demeaning to suggest that issues about women are just social issues and not economic issues.”
Someone finally said it.
And I agree.
It’s just too bad Kaine gets the economic connections all wrong.
In a new radio ad, the former Governor, who recently benefited from a Planned Parenthood fundraiser in New York City, first alleges the new ultrasound law is a financial burden to women. To hear him, one might assume that abortion is not only a constitutional right, but is free. Truth be told, women getting an abortion in Virginia pay an average of $300 and the industry standard is to require an ultrasound prior to the procedure and to include it in the abortion price. Moreover, the Department of Health has a list of the free locations for ultrasounds around the state so the law does not cost women a penny.
Then, typical of the left’s “war on women” deceptive rhetoric, Kaine creates a non-existent boogieman who is trying to eliminate all access to contraceptives for women. This is an intentional deflection from the true issue in the debate, that of religious freedom: will our nation force Catholic Hospitals, for example, to pay for contraceptives for employees despite their convictions? The left must deflect because they lose on the issue of religious freedom. Despite the embarrassment of Sandra Fluke’s ignorance of the $9/month it costs one to get birth control at Target, Kaine sees no shame in continuing to create the false illusion of the tremendous cost of family planning.
Governor Kaine, here is the real economic impact of “women’s issues”:
In one estimation, the unborn lost from legal abortion since 1973 would be now paying approximately $202 billion in taxes if they had ever been given a chance of life. The nuts and bolts of this calculation are summed up here, first taken from a paper that well-respected financial advisor Larry Burkett wrote back in 1998. Back then, Burkett warned that our Social Security system was collapsing because of the growing disparity between the workforce and the beneficiaries of the program—a disparity greatly enhanced by the nearly 56 million unborn lives snuffed out prematurely. Put another way, Dennis Howard of The Movement For A Better America states,
“My own analysis puts the GDP loss for abortion alone at $45 trillion, and it keeps climbing by $2.5 trillion every year because those future workers, producers, and taxpayers we aborted ain't ever coming back. Nor will they be here to birth another generation. If you include all those other hidden costs, you could easily double that in lost economic potential for the whole nation.”
Lastly, one need only ask the 28 million twitter followers of Justin Bieber about the economic impact of abortion. In a recent tell-all book, Justin’s mom writes about how she overcame the pressure to abort Justin. That one life, now only age 18, is a venture capitalist creating jobs in social media entities like Spotify, created a film that topped $100 million at the box office, had a concert tour that grossed $157 million, launched a fragrance line with $60 million in sales, owns and pays taxes on two mansions in California estimated at about $17 million and has a net worth of $110 million. He may have singlehandedly created more jobs than President Obama!
Few politicians have the guts to say that abortion not only takes invaluable human life but also has an economic impact. Most try to relegate the abortion issue into a corner hoping they can get enough votes without having to address it at all. Unfortunately, while Tim Kaine at least addressed the economic side, he got the analysis all wrong.
One politician willing to say it and who said it loudly on his campaign trail when running for the Republican nomination for President is Rick Santorum. To hear him Get It Right in person, you can still grab one of the few remaining tickets for Saturday’s Richmond Gala here.
Posts
