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Representative David Schweikert - Vice Chairman

Lee: Abortion Carries $6.9 Trillion Economic Cost Each Year

Lee: Abortion Carries $6.9 Trillion Economic Cost Each Year

Lee: Abortion Carries $6.9 Trillion Economic Cost Each Year

WASHINGTON—Today, Ranking Member Mike Lee (R-UT) released a Joint Economic Committee report highlighting the $6.9 trillion economic cost of abortion each year.

The report places the economic cost of abortion in 2019 at $6.9 trillion, or 32 percent of U.S. GDP, due to the loss of nearly 630,000 unborn lives. While U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and others have argued that overturning Roe v. Wade would negatively impact the economy by affecting women's labor market outcomes, the report shows that the loss of unborn lives carries a far greater economic cost, 452 times greater than the earnings loss associated with having a child. 

The JEC's $6.9 trillion cost estimate relies on standard methods used by federal agencies to quantify the cost of policies that affect mortality risks. The JEC's estimate does not include the external costs abortion imposes on society by shrinking the labor force, stunting innovation, limiting economic growth, and weakening the solvency of programs like Social Security and Medicare that rely on workers to support a growing elderly population. 

Ranking Member Lee said, "This report debunks the myth that the economy is any reason to perpetuate the tragedy of abortion. The termination of more than 63 million lives since Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided represents the loss of Americans of unique and unrepeatable potential. These abortions also represent the loss of ideas and innovation, of families, communities, and growth. Our economy does not benefit from the tragedy of abortion."

Abortion at its core is a moral issue rather than an economic one. But even in economic terms, the JEC's findings demonstrate that the costs of abortion far outweigh any claimed benefits. 

Read the full report here.

The Joint Economic Committee is Congress's bicameral economic research center and home of the Social Capital Project, led by Ranking Member Mike Lee.

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