‘Helping Moms Choose Life’: Bill Would Let Child Support Begin at Conception

A congressional bill that would allow pregnant women to receive child support beginning at conception is receiving wide praise from the pro-life community.

Introduced by U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND), and Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), the bill – called the Unborn Child Support Act – would allow states to enforce child support obligations of the biological father beginning at conception if the mother requests it.

Such support would apply retroactively and be paid out while the baby is still in the womb. Meanwhile, the bill gives mothers flexibility in order not to receive child support if they don’t want the father to be involved.

“We should do everything we can to support American mothers and their children,” Rubio said. “This bill would allow expecting mothers to prepare and support their babies before they are born.”

Cramer said care for the child should begin “long before a baby is born.”

“It begins at the first moment of life – conception – and fathers have obligations, financial and otherwise, during pregnancy,” Cramer said. “Mothers should be able to access child support payments as soon as she is supporting a child. Our bill makes this possible.”

It has the support of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, March for Life, Concerned Women for America and the Family Research Council.

“In the new Dobbs era, our policies should reflect the science that life begins at conception and the reality that women and families start making plans well before the birth of a child,” said Marilyn Musgrave, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s vice president of government affairs. “From the moment a woman learns she is pregnant, throughout her pregnancy, and after a child is born, she should receive the support she needs to care for herself and baby.”

Musgrave thanked the legislators for “calling men to greater responsibility in helping moms choose life for their children.”

In the Senate, co-sponsors are Sens. Steve Daines (R-MT), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MA), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Rick Scott (R-FL), Roger Marshall (R-KS), James Lankford (R-OK) and Roger Wicker (R-MS).

Photo courtesy: Heather Mount/Unsplash

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.

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