(RightWing.org) – Several states are changing laws in the wake of the end of Roe v Wade. The latest trend is to start child support from conception instead of from birth. Georgia legislators led the way, and now at least six other states are following their example.
On March 5 the Kentucky Senate passed a new law that moves the start date for child support payments forward from birth to conception. The bill, which passed on a 36-2 vote, will now go to the state House. If it passes there, pregnant women will be able to claim support from the moment the pregnancy began — and they’ll be able to seek that support up to a year after birth, with payments backdated to conception to cover their costs during pregnancy.
Since the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v Wade abortion law in June 2022, states have been moving to give more legal protection to unborn children. The Alabama Supreme Court recently ruled that frozen embryos are children, and protected by law. Georgia’s state legislature recently introduced a bill to backdate child support to conception; Kentucky has now followed its example, and at least five other states are considering similar laws.
It isn’t just state law that’s under review. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) recently reintroduced a federal bill that would also make child support payable from conception. The Unborn Child Support Act would require judges to discuss support payments with mothers and backdate them to conception if the mother wants that. Since the reversal of Roe, federal law has been weighted towards life beginning at birth. That’s now changing, with pro-life legislators pushing for laws that give unborn children the same protection. Liberals are likely to push back hard against these moves, but for now, at least the momentum is toward the pro-life side of the debate.
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