Roe vs. Wade meets Welfare Reform

One of the fun things about public policy are the unintended consequences we bring on ourselves.

Take abortion. For years, educated, professional women were the backbone of the pro-choice movement because they had the most to lose due to an unplanned pregnancy. When I was in college I knew several women who had terminated pregnancies (none due to me) because they had classes to attend, internships to accept, a future to build for. The female cadres of Operation Rescue yahoos were generally uneducated and less to lose through an unwanted pregnancy.

That's changed.

According to a recent report, the number of abortions performed has diminished considerably. That's good when it means that more men and women are using preventative measures, bad when it means there are no service providers about. In general, though, both sides agree that in a perfect world, there would be no abortions. Of course, that can't happen, so we need reproductive choice.

What's interesting is that even though the numbers have gone down, who is getting abortions has changed. With the passage of welfare reform and back-to-work and all for welfare mothers, more working class and less educated women are terminating unwanted pregnancies. For the same reasons my college acquaintances did. An unwanted pregnancy throws a serious curve into life plans. If the government wants 'em working, they'll work, by God. And no unwanted pregnancy will stop them.

So we have to thank the Republicans who worked with President Clinton to bring more women into the workforce, off welfare. As a result, we have even fewer unwanted children, too.