With the midterm election just around the corner, kitchen table issues will be top of mind for voters at the ballot box. Granite State families are looking at their budgets and wondering how they’re supposed to make it all work. Groceries are expensive, housing is unaffordable and fuel costs are skyrocketing. But as my husband and I consider starting a family here in New Hampshire, the number one affordability issue we talk about over dinner is reproductive healthcare access.
Reproductive freedom is an economic issue.
The ability to decide if, when and how to have a child affects nearly every major financial decision someone makes. That’s why eliminating barriers to maternal health, reproductive health and abortion care needs to be part of the conversation on how we address the affordability crisis facing New Hampshire families.
Access to and the ability to afford reproductive and maternal health care — including family planning counseling, contraception, midwifery or obstetric care, abortion care and miscarriage management — heavily impacts a family’s economic future.
It can determine whether someone is able to finish school or pursue a degree, whether they can take a new job or advance in their career, whether they can afford their rent or mortgage and whether they can care for the children they already have.
As healthcare costs continue to rise, we can’t continue to ignore the economic burdens placed on patients. Many who choose to become parents are forced to take on medical debt.
Last year, a report showed labor and delivery as the highest average out-of-pocket cost paid by commercially insured Granite Staters, averaging $1,772 per person in 2022. This is 54% higher than the next-highest out-of-pocket health cost. Granite Staters should not be forced to choose between growing their families and breaking the bank.
Barriers to reproductive health care are taking a growing economic toll on both patients and providers. State-level restrictions on abortion access, in addition to cuts to federal funding for reproductive health care and the lack of nationwide abortion protections, cost New Hampshire an estimated $616 million each year and contribute to more than 1,000 workers leaving the workforce annually. At the same time, rising healthcare costs and recent changes to Medicaid and other coverage are increasing out-of-pocket costs for patients and putting greater financial strain on the safety-net providers that deliver essential reproductive and maternal healthcare. Together, these pressures threaten access to affordable care, particularly for our most marginalized neighbors, including rural and Black and brown communities. Granite Staters should not have to choose between their bodily autonomy and financial stability.
We cannot expect young people to want to grow their families in New Hampshire when rising out-of-pocket costs and shrinking insurance coverage are making it impossible to afford.
We cannot expect community-based providers to keep their doors open in New Hampshire when funding cuts threaten their ability to practice.
And we cannot expect New Hampshire to be an affordable place for young families to live while putting up more barriers between people and the reproductive health care they want and need.
If we want strong communities, we need strong healthcare systems. If we want families to thrive economically, they need the freedom and resources to make decisions about their own lives and futures. If we want New Hampshire to be a place where people can afford to live, work and raise their families, then protecting and expanding access to affordable reproductive and maternal health care has to be part of that vision.
When I head to the polls on Nov. 3, I will be voting for candidates who respect our decisions, honor our freedoms and invest in our access to care.
Because reproductive freedom is about health. It’s about dignity. It’s about whether people have control over their own futures. And fundamentally, it’s an economic issue.
Christina Warriner Hamilton is the New Hampshire state director for Reproductive Equity Now. She lives in Dover.