For years, the abortion debate has been framed almost exclusively around law and ideology. But behind the slogans are women making deeply personal decisions often under intense financial pressure. National research consistently shows that the cost of raising children, especially childcare, weighs heavily on those decisions.

March 12 is National Working Moms Day. At Human Coalition, we are taking this moment to celebrate the hardworking moms we serve as the nation’s most trusted life-affirming alternative to Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry. Every day, we serve pregnant women who are already working to support their other children and fearing that they can’t possibly welcome another child in their current circumstances.

But if we’re serious about honoring working moms, we need to confront an uncomfortable truth: childcare is one of the most consequential factors shaping decisions about work, family, and even abortion.

According to Human Coalition, a national pro-life organization that serves thousands of pregnant women each year, 76% of women seeking abortion say they would prefer to parent if circumstances were different, and financial reasons figure prominently in many of those decisions. Nearly 40% cite economic concerns overall, and more than one in four say they “can’t afford a baby and childcare.”

These are not abstract statistics. They represent women staring at bank accounts, calculating rent, daycare, groceries, and gas, and concluding they have no room left for a new baby.

Consider “Cindy.“

When she first came to Human Coalition, pregnant with her second child, Cindy was overwhelmed and unsure whether she could choose life. With practical support, she completed her GED, secured childcare vouchers, and started working. Stability seemed within reach.

Then her employer changed her hours. She lost childcare. Without childcare, she lost her job. One scheduling shift unraveled everything.

Human Coalition walked with her again, helping her regain stability. But Cindy’s story illustrates a broader reality: for many working-class mothers, childcare access is fragile. One disruption can mean lost income, lost opportunity, and a life thrown off track.

That’s why recent reforms in the Working Families Tax Cut deserve real attention.

The legislation included meaningful steps to strengthen childcare access and expand flexibility for working- and middle-class parents. Lawmakers reinforced funding streams by increasing the Child & Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC), expanding dependent care assistance program (DCAP) limits to $7,500, and boosting the Employer-Provided Child Care Credit (Section 45F) to encourage business-supported care.

The bill also modernized certain eligibility pathways and acknowledged something working mothers have long understood: that affordable childcare isn’t a subsidy for working parents; it’s a foundation for a culture that makes room for new life.

And without accessible childcare, financial stability slips away for some of the most vulnerable moms in our nation.

These reforms matter because the cost burden is staggering. In 2024, parents reported spending roughly 22% of their income on childcare and nearly 30% of their savings just to maintain it. A new 2025 American Family Survey showed that the average annual price of center-based child care is $15,570, rivaling mortgage payments in many communities.

And even when families can afford care, they often can’t find it. More than half of Americans live in a “childcare desert,” where there are at least three children for every licensed childcare slot.

This isn’t just an affordability crisis. It’s an access crisis.

The cultural conversation often assumes Americans don’t want families anymore. The data tell a different story.

A 2024 peer-reviewed paper from scholars Lyman Stone and Clara Piano found that states with less restrictive childcare regulations have meaningfully smaller “fertility gaps,” which represent the gap between how many children women say they want and how many they actually have. In the state with the most burdensome regulations, simply adopting the regulatory environment of the least restrictive state would increase fertility rates by roughly 13%.

Strikingly, in every state, the average desired family size remains above the replacement level of 2.1 children.

Women want children. They need the structural support that makes those children economically possible.

The goal here isn’t to replace immediate family or community support with government. It’s to remove unnecessary barriers that make family formation financially perilous. Smart childcare reform can expand options for those who need them most. If we want stronger families, a healthier economy, and a culture where moms don’t feel forced into abortion by their circumstances, we cannot ignore the role childcare plays in all three.

National Working Moms Day shouldn’t be reduced to social media tributes and corporate platitudes. It should prompt serious reflection about the policies shaping women’s real-life experiences. For many women standing at the edge of a decision between life and death for their unborn child, it can be an undeniably pro-life policy.

We’ve made meaningful progress. But until no woman feels cornered into a permanent decision because of a temporary economic barrier, our work isn’t done.

* * *

Clare Ath is the senior policy analyst at Human Coalition, one of the largest pro-life organizations in the nation, which operates a network of telecare and brick-and-mortar women’s care clinics across the country.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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