Congress Is About to Find Out Just How Expensive Unintended Pregnancies Are

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/progressohio/5880678891/in/photolist-9XE1Xn-9XE218-9k4kma-9k7kp5-9k7qGS-9k7jRy-9k7rcJ-9k4j9e-9k7mpo-9k7jub-bK7ZpF-bwdonb-bwdf6Q-bwdet7-bwddKJ-bwdfqA-bwdqyo-7QfPtB-7Qj8Fq-7Qj7Z1-7Qj9NU-7Qj6Gu-9NKGW7-7Qjapm-7QfWBB-7QjgX3-7QjhLj-7QfYaa-7Qj9ou-7Qjj1u-7QfQpB-9XE1Lg-7kQ7aY-9sgvD2-9moK98-9sgvF2-9mrUFL-bK6JE6-pNxGE5-7QgLth-bK86QV-bwdmzJ-bwc3AE-8SzRS-5eNVWg-8NXf7r-9mmzHf-79msLH-7QfXFn-7Qj7nh">ProgressOhio</a>Flickr

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


On Thursday, Senate Republicans will have their second chance in as many months to block federal money for Planned Parenthood. But defunding the country’s largest women’s health care network would come with a big price tag for taxpayers: According to a report released this week by the Congressional Budget Office, the move would end up costing an additional $130 million over the next decade.

What’s the biggest way banning funding for Planned Parenthood could come back to haunt the budget? More babies.

While the organization’s contraceptive services now help prevent an estimated 516,000 pregnancies each year, the CBO suggests that number would drop if funding were cut: As many as 25 percent of Planned Parenthood users would face reduced access to care, and some of those patients might effectively be forced to go without birth control.

“The people most likely to experience reduced access to care would probably reside in areas without access to other health care clinics or medical practitioners who serve low-income populations,” wrote Keith Hall, director of the CBO, adding that his agency projects the bill would initially cause a yearly boom of several thousand new pregnancies that would have otherwise been prevented.

Forty-five percent of births in the United States are paid for by Medicaid. Beyond that cost, the CBO predicts that some of the children resulting from the additional pregnancies “would themselves qualify for Medicaid and possibly for other federal programs.” All told, the CBO says the cost of the unintended pregnancies would be $650 million over the next 10 years.

While a ban would save the federal government much of the $450 million that Planned Parenthood is slated to get from Medicare and other programs next year, and up to a total of $520 million over the next decade, the CBO projects that many former patients would seek help at other Medicare-funded providers—in effect, merely shifting the cost. 

The CBO’s report was completed at the request of House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who introduced a bill this summer to defund Planned Parenthood. That bill made it out of the House but died in the Senate in August, though Republican representatives will get a second chance at defunding on Thursday: The Senate’s continuing resolution bill to keep the government funded also includes an amendment to cut ties with the health care organization.

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate