That baby could be carried to term and adopted by a couple who for whatever can't conceive a child of their own.
Whenever I hear this argument, there is something I wonder about. I hope you will humor me here.
How would you feel if such pregnancies and adoptions were funded by taxpayers?
Here's my thought process: if a woman wants an abortion and the law forbids it, then (assuming she follows the law, of course) she is essentially obligated to carry her baby to term against her wishes. I'll accept it as given here that the woman is pregnant because she had consensual unprotected sex. I will also accept as given (though I don't necessarily agree with it) the argument that any discomfort or health issues she experiences during the pregnancy will be deserved because they will be a result of her own irresponsible choices. But what of the expenses? According to parents.com, the average U.S. hospital delivery costs $3,500. That number excludes prenatal, delivery-related and post-partum healthcare - after factoring those in, the average birth apparently costs $8,802. In most cases, it also causes lost wages, since mothers usually need to miss some work while they're pregnant. So, there's a bill for $8,800 and loss of income. This is not to mention actual adoption fees, which, according to creatingafamily.org (yes, I'm getting these from Google searches - feel free to dispute my numbers if you have better sources), can be upwards of $30,000.
Should the birth mother, who is being obligated to carry this child to term against her wishes, also be obligated to shoulder all of the financial costs? If not, who should? It seems to me that if we, as a society, decide that we cannot morally tolerate abortion, then we, as a society, should have some idea what to do about the costs associated with upholding our morality.
I realize it may seem callous or shallow to bring up finances in a discussion about the lives of unborn children. But it
is a practical consideration, and I'm curious as to your perspective: if the law dictates that women must go through with pregnancies they can't necessarily afford, who is going to pay to make sure that these children are taken care of after they are born? Who is going to pay to make sure they get the medical care they need? Who is going to pay to make sure they get adopted rather than ending up on the street or in foster care?
I ask these questions because it doesn't seem reasonable to me to take steps to ensure that children are born if we are not also going to take steps to ensure that they have decent lives.