Not all pro-life movements are equivalent. Some states are pushing harder to ban abortion than others. These states are focal points for the pro-life movement, and are therefore most telling as to the ethics of the movement as a whole. To gauge the ethical basis for pro-life legislation, this paper takes a closer look at the nine states that form the locus of the country’s pro-life movement. Possible ethical models are posited as foundations for state legislation opposing abortion, and then used as the analytical basis to test the ethical consistency of the pro-life movement. Specifically, this paper considers whether these states apply an ethically consistent approach to one likely outcome of outlawing abortion – an increased need for foster care.

Why foster care? There is a great deal of overlap between key factors influencing both the need for abortion and the need for foster care. If abortion is criminalized, women who would have sought an abortion will be left with one of two options: attempt an illegal abortion or decide to have a child when they otherwise would not. Overlapping indicators suggest that children in this demographic are in danger of being born into a troubled home and are prime candidates for later requiring the services of state foster care programs. Accordingly, a predictable outcome of outlawing abortion is a significantly increased burden on state foster care programs. Because foster care data is tracked on a state-by-state basis, state funding and governmental interest in foster care can be correlated with legislation to outlaw abortion on the state level – thereby, providing valuable insight into the ethical model used by the pro-life movement in an arena closely connected to their main objective.

Overall, an examination of state foster care programs indicates that these nine states are not taking an ethically consistent approach to the interrelated issues of abortion and foster care. Yet because each state approaches the issues differently, there is a spectrum across states in how consistently they have applied ethical models that drive abortion legislation when developing programs that impact foster care, a related and equally vulnerable group.