New GOP bill seeks to provide child support payments from conception

by mcardinal

Michael Cardinal, FISM News

 

Pro-life legislators introduced a bill last week that seeks to provide more resources to mothers during pregnancy, in an effort to give further resources and support to those who choose to keep their unborn child.

U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) introduced the bill in the Senate, and U.S. Representative Mike Johnson (R-LA) introduced a companion bill in the House to give mothers the ability to receive child support payments while they are pregnant.

The Unborn Child Support Act would amend the Social Security Act to extend mandatory child support to include the time of pregnancy, allowing mothers to receive payments from absentee fathers from the moment of conception. The bill states that if enacted it will allow the federal government to “ensure that child support for unborn children is collected and distributed under the child support enforcement program, and for other purposes.” 

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

The bill states that child support payments will begin at the moment of conception and will be available upon the request of the mother. It also allows for retroactive payments, if the mother does not immediately request child support or the paternity is not determined until later on.

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

The legislation follows the landmark Dobbs case which returned legislation for abortion back to the states. Many states have since enacted laws that recognize the personhood of a child at the moment of conception. This is groundbreaking for those in the pro-life camp who believe that life starts at conception and that everything should be done to protect the most vulnerable of our population.

“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. 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,” said Hon. Marilyn Musgrave, SBA Pro-Life America’s Vice President of Government Affairs.

However, many in the pro-abortion camp continue to push a false narrative that pro-life advocates are merely pro-birth and do little to support unexpectant mothers. However, a look at the facts show that those who support the pro-life movement provide multiple resources to support moms who may not feel prepared to be a mother.

This legislation, if passed, will take one more practical step to empower women as they go through pregnancy and care for their child.

“I hope good legislation, like the Unborn Child Support Act, gets more support now that the Dobbs decision encourages us to look more seriously at supporting mothers and their unborn children,” said Senator Hyde-Smith, a co-signor of the bill. “This legislation would help ensure women have opportunities to receive child support payments from the earlier days of their pregnancy.”

A recent Bucknell Institute poll shows there is popular support for the measure with only 28% saying they were opposed to child-support obligations upon conception.

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