How Medicaid Expansion Reduces Abortions and Discourages Euthanasia
In 2020, Medicaid Expansion was on the ballot in Oklahoma on June 30, and in Missouri on August 4. In both cases, it passed by narrow margins. Previously, Idaho, Maine, Nebraska, and Utah had also passed the expansion at the ballot box when state legislatures refused to do so.
South Dakota had it on the ballot, November 8, 2022, and it passed with 56% of the vote.
What is Medicaid Expansion?
It simply means adding more people to the Medicaid roles. People qualify for Medicaid based on their income, and this would set higher the amount of income needed to qualify. So more low-income people could enroll, because they can make a little more income and still qualify.
1. Helping Pregnant Women Choose Life
Pregnancy Resource Centers need to be able to refer pregnant women for prenatal care and new mothers for women’s and children’s health care. The more people who have access to the Medicaid program, the more PRCs can help.
Even for those who never cross paths with the PRCs, the fact that healthcare is more available to them, both prenatally and postnatally, means they feel more supported in choosing life. They have more practical resources available.
2. Discouraging Euthanasia
Paying for medical care and hospice are nonviolent alternatives to “hastened death,” and people should feel comfortable using those options without a sense of being a financial burden on their families.
But here’s another crucial point: some people won’t call the ambulance or visit the doctor when they really need to, because they don’t feel they can afford it. When their own scarce money is at stake, they may have too high a standard for when they need to have something looked at or when they must rush to the hospital.
When the disease or injury festers, it gets worse. It’s not merely that people suffer needlessly, but that they can then get into a medical condition so bad that “pulling the plug” starts to be discussed. Catching problems early is more likely to happen when those on Medicaid feel they can afford to catch them early.
3. People with Disabilities
Since specific disabilities often require specific medical care, having more people with those disabilities be able to afford the care will of course be crucial for them.
One of the common reasons offered for abortion of unborn children with disabilities, or “assisted suicide” for those later in life, is that it saves money over providing the care needed to let them live. This is an astonishingly callous attitude toward money; when used the right way, money’s intended to be a way of facilitating help, not an excuse for avoiding help. Having more people eligible to get that needed help is a life-affirming alternative to such cold-heartedness.
4. Giving Children Needed Medical Care
In addition to helping pregnant women choose life directly by not having deliberate abortions, being sure they get good prenatal care can also prevent “spontaneous” abortions – the medical term for what’s more commonly called miscarriages.
See also:
Our blog post: Social Programs to Help the Poor are Pro-life
PostRoeFuture.com, a statement drafted by prominent pro-life activists and signed by hundreds more, released and publicized January 19, 2023. It says that governments need “to eliminate or reduce the significant economic and social pressures that we know drive women to seek abortion in the first place. ” Suggested policies include: accessible and affordable health care, expanded child tax credits, paid parental leave, flexible work hours, affordable child care, and prenatal child support laws.
Make Birth Free: A Vision for Congress to Empower American Mothers, Families and Communities is a White Paper put out by Americans United for Life and our member group Democrats for Life of America. It explains the need for proposals such as expanding Medicare (as a precedent, this was done with end renal disease), plus other methods by which the goal could be done.
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