What Family Policy Should Look Like in Post-Roe America

The leak of the Supreme Court’s draft majority opinion in the Dobbs case suggests that conservatives have succeeded in our half-century push to recognize in law the value of every human life.

But being pro-life and pro-family requires more than just taking steps to prohibit abortion. It means offering a positive vision for expectant parents and families, a vision that makes it more affordable to raise children in America. Such a vision will include taking a number of steps to support new parents, from Medicaid coverage of mothers for up to one year after birth to paid parental leave.

The best thing Republicans could do for a post-Roe America would be to coalesce around a signature reform and expansion of the child tax credit, or CTC.

A stable and predictable child tax credit could provide tremendous peace of mind to couples facing an unplanned pregnancy and make family life more achievable and affordable for working- and middle-class parents. Collapsing the tangle of existing child benefits, earned income tax credit adjustments and child care deductions into a straightforward monthly benefit would allow parents to use that money in the way that suits their family best, whether that be for food and clothing, tutoring, private school or child care.