This may surprise some people, but for most it’s a no brainer: having a baby is more expensive than taking birth control. When you multiply those expenses nationally, these savings can be even more substantial. However, because rights to access birth control and contraception are constantly being challenged and eroded in some states, tax payers are paying the higher costs associated with unplanned pregnancies, rather than for preventative measures.

According to a new report compiled by Guttmacher, in 2008, 2 of 3 unplanned pregnancies resulted in births that were publicly funded, and the combined cost of all those births was $12.5 billion. Overall, more than half (65%) of births that were paid for by public insurance programs were the result of unplanned pregnancies. The study contends that this is the result of low access to birth control and abortion for poor women in states that spend a significant amount of money paying for prenatal, hospital, and post birth care for unplanned children.

Keep in mind that these costs do not take into account later, taxpayer-funded government care, like public school and food stamps.

The study also states that in the absence of the publicly funded family planning effort, the annual public costs of births from unintended pregnancy would have been twice as high — $25 BILLION.

As Erin Gloria Ryan from Jezebel adeptly points out, “the public must either bear the cost of preventing pregnancy, bear the cost of unplanned pregnancy, or allow poor women to bleed and die in the street. Which one is the most pro-life and fiscally conservative?”

When women want access to birth control and other medical services, it’s in the best interest of the country that they have that access. People, regardless of whether or not they can afford children, are going to have sex; and if a person doesn’t want a child, why make them have one? Therefore, a person who believes in freedom from government interference and fiscal responsibility then has the same goal as a feminist: allowing all women access to choice.

The study can be reviewed here: www.guttmacher.org/pubs/public-costs-of-UP.pdf