US Treasury Secretary: ‘Protecting the unborn damages the economy’

Protecting the unborn from abortion would “have very damaging effects on the economy”, a US Cabinet member has claimed.

Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen made the comments following the leak of the US Supreme Court’s draft ruling on Roe v. Wade, indicating abortion law could be returned to state legislatures, which sparked a furious reaction among pro-abortion campaigners. The final ruling is expected this summer.

Yellen told the Senate Banking Committee that if the 1973 ruling was overturned it would affect women’s participation in the workforce.

‘Callous’

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina blasted Yellen for being “callous” and “harsh” for speaking of abortion in terms of economic value.

Yet the Secretary of the Treasury defended her comments, claiming they were “not harsh”.

Pro-life organisation the National Right to Life Committee estimates that 63,459,781 abortions have taken place since 1973 in the US.

Debate

Earlier this month, a Peer said that Britain needs a more robust public debate on its abortion law as hopes of improvements in the US rise.

Writing in The Critic, Lord Alton of Liverpool lamented that there have been almost 10 million abortions in Britain since the 1967 Abortion Act. In 2020, there were more than 200,000 abortions, approximately one every two and a half minutes.

He described the US situation as a “rare opportunity” to turn the tide against Britain’s abortion law, where abortion is permitted up to 24 weeks for most reasons but is available up to birth for conditions including Down’s syndrome and cleft palate.