Why should we have to legislate personal responsibility? Especially for a child? That does seem to be where we are. One Republican member of the House of Representatives, Rep. Ashley Hinson (IA-02), is introducing a bill to do just that; her Supporting Healthy Pregnancy Act would require fathers to cover half of the out-of-pocket cost of any pregnancy. That's not a bad idea, not at all.
A House Republican is mounting an effort to make it easier for women to keep and raise their babies after birth.
Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, is unveiling a bill called the Supporting Healthy Pregnancy Act that would ensure pregnant mothers get financial support from the father even before their child is born, Fox News Digital learned first.
It's an effort by the Republican Party to affirm its pro-family ideology as Democrats continue to accuse the GOP of being anti-choice while also being unwilling to support women who keep their babies.
I can't read minds, so I'm not aware of all the motivations Rep. Hinson may have for promoting this measure. It's nevertheless a good idea. It will be accepted by pro-life Republicans (and would be by pro-life Democrats, if there were any), and I feel certain that's part of Rep. Hinson's reasoning behind the bill. It will, after all, change the abortion/no abortion calculus, for some women, on the margins.
The bill would, notably, exclude abortion costs.
Hinson's bill would require states to establish systems where the biological father of a child is required to pay at least 50% of out-of-pocket costs for medical expenses associated with a pregnancy and delivery, including health insurance premiums.
There are certain limitations on costs incurred, however, and abortion costs are excluded altogether.
The payments must also be requested by the mother before the father is legally obligated to make them.
But setting the abortion question aside for the moment, the thing about this bill that should yield some bipartisan support is the issue of responsibility.
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It takes two to make a baby, after all. The father is just as responsible as the mother. Fathers, after all, have to pay child support after the birth, if they aren't in the household of the mother, and that's appropriate. I've done it myself, after my first marriage ended, and I did so happily and reliably, because it was my daughter who benefited from it. Moreover, it was my responsibility. I was her father. So, if the father is just as responsible, that means he should be responsible for the costs of pregnancy as well as the costs of child-rearing. Democrats and Republicans alike should be able to see the value in holding men accountable for a pregnancy for which they are 50 percent responsible.
Now, there's a cautionary note in this for the pro-life side; there's always the possibility that a father will pressure a mother towards abortion if it's the cheaper option. I would hate to think anyone would be so callous as to push for this choice, just for financial reasons, but that seems to be the world we live in these days.
I'm reminded of the 100 percent reliable birth-control method my wife's late grandmother, who described herself as a "tough old broad," used to recommend to her granddaughters - "Take two aspirin, and hold them between your knees." But people are gonna, men and women both. But while men are involved in this, women are committed. The least we can do is expect men who have planted a baby to pick up their fair share of the expense.
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