At a press conference in Springdale, Ohio today, Cincinnati’s Healthy Moms and Babes joined the national advocacy group Catholics United in calling on political candidates and public officials to pursue initiatives that bring Americans of all ideological backgrounds together to find common-ground solutions to the abortion tragedy. Today’s event is part of a broader movement of Catholics and other people of faith to move beyond the angry rhetoric of the abortion “culture war” and enact policies that achieve actual results by addressing the root causes of abortion: lack of jobs, health care, and other economic supports for women and families.

"Women who find they are facing an unplanned pregnancy can be scared and overwhelmed. They are worried about how they will be able to afford a child and who will be there to support them," said Kay Brogle, executive director of Healthy Moms and Babes. “Our society must realize that an effective pro-life strategy needs to entail standing women who face unplanned pregnancies, and providing them personal and financial support through the pregnancy and beyond. For Healthy Moms and Babes, our mission is the health and well being of the mother and child…that means providing moms help food, shelter, clothing as well as educating them in the care of themselves and their children through prenatal, postnatal, parenting and women’s health programs."

Recently, Catholics United and the social justice group Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good released studies demonstrating a clear connection between availability of family support and lower abortion rates. “Research shows that pregnant women and families are much more likely to choose life when they have the tools they need to do so,” said Dr. Joseph Wright, Ph.D., author of the Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance studies. “In order to build a true culture of life, our nation must make a serious commitment to ensuring that our nation’s families have the health care, education, and economic supports they need.”

One study, Reducing Abortion in America: The Effect of Economic and Social Supports, examined 20 years of national data and found that increased state-based economic assistance to families correlated at 20 percent lower abortion rate. In the 1990s, states more robust nutrition support through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program had 37 percent lower abortion rates, and those higher male employment had 29 percent lower abortion rates.

Another study, Reducing Abortion in America: Beyond Roe v. Wade, found that overturning the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision would have a relatively small effect on the overall abortion rate, as few states are likely to ban abortions, and women living in those states could easily obtain abortion services in neighboring states or an extralegal abortion market.

In an effort to take its message directly to Catholic voters, Catholics United has mailed more than 50,000 “Pro-Life Means All Life” postcards to pro-life Catholic households in Ohio, New Mexico and Pennsylvania.

“People of faith are tired of leaders who wear the pro-life labelout enacting policies that actually prevent abortions,” said James Salt, organizing director for Catholics United. “It’s time for candidates and elected officials, regardless of party affiliation, to move from rhetoric to results by addressing a comprehensive strategy to address abortion in America.”

For more information:

• Healthy Moms and Babes
• Catholics United study: Reducing Abortion in America: Beyond Roe v. Wade
• Catholics in Alliance study: Reducing Abortion in America: The Effect of Economic and Social Supports