Abortion & Welfare
Ever hear the argument from people that they rather pay for abortions, than for a child to be on welfare? Economist Jaqueline R. Kasun found that the average amount of time a person receives welfare is 2 years, costing an average cost of $11,500. That same child will participate in the labour force for 47 years, earning on average $1 million dollars and paying about $400,000 in taxes. Even if the child were to receive welfare for a longer period of time, spend three times as much time in prison, and be unemployed for three times longer, that child's tax payments would still bring a substantial return on the dollars spent supporting her through welfare.
Bottom line: The fundamental reason why abortion is wrong is because it dismembers, disembowels and decapitates a preborn child. We cannot kill innocent human beings, no matter what the cost. But, as is often the case, what is bad moral policy is also bad economic policy.