Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) on Wednesday argued that preventing abortions will boost the economy by creating more jobs.
“I would suggest that it is very much the case that those of us in the majority support this legislation because it is the morally right thing to do, but it is also very very true that having a growing population and having new children brought into the world is not harmful to job creation,” Goodlatte said, as recorded by the Huffington Post. “It very much promotes job creation for all the care and services and so on that need to be provided by a lot of people to raise children.”
The Virginia Republican made the remarks while discussing a bill that limits tax benefits granted to individuals and small businesses with health insurance plans that cover abortions.
Reps. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Diana DeGette (D-CO), co-chairs of the Pro-Choice Caucus, were not pleased with Goodlatte’s description of the bill as pro-choice, according to the Huffington Post.
“After years of stalling, Congressional Republicans have finally released their jobs plan: attacking women’s health,” they said. “To paraphrase our old friend, Rep. Barney Frank, Republicans in Washington believe that life begins at conception but ends at birth — they want to eliminate contraception and abortion, but won’t support early childhood education like Head Start or universal Pre-K, pay equity for single mothers, affordable child care, or SNAP benefits.”
A Congressional Budget Office report on a House bill last summer that banned abortions after 20 weeks said it would have cost the federal government $225 million in Medicaid spending over a decade.
