However, the market will eventually adjust to your tax by providing abortion insurance, thus spreading out the cost of the tax to people who don’t actually have abortions.
Not sure about that—for an insurance company to offer such a policy would likely be very bad publicity for a certain part of the population. Given charities have refused donations to avoid bad publicity...
For a target market of roughly half of all women (going by age of fertility) - a quarter of a population—who might consider buying such an insurance policy, an insurance company could probably afford to ignore everyone else. New companies could be started with no affiliation with ones that sells other kinds of insurance if necessary.
Of course, someone who legislated a tax on abortion would probably also legislate forbidding to insure against abortion.
New companies could be started with no affiliation with ones that sells other kinds of insurance if necessary.
Yes, I hadn’t thought about that.
Of course, someone who legislated a tax on abortion would probably also legislate forbidding to insure against abortion.
Well, if they really wanted to they’d probably find a way around that. For example, they could call it an insurance on pregnancy (and claim they don’t require the pregnancy to be successful because a pregnancy ending in miscarriage also costs several months of your life, or stuff like that).
Wow, now that I think about this, such an insurance policy makes sense even if people aren’t going to abort. (Though being given $3000 una tantum doesn’t solve all the problems in the world for someone very poor who wants to raise a child.)
Wow, now that I think about this, such an insurance policy makes sense even if people aren’t going to abort.
I’m not sure I understand. Are you suggesting an insurance policy that pays out if you get pregnant or give birth?
Normally insurance policies are taken against unwanted events. If you have a policy that pays out in case of abortion, that makes sense to the insurance company because if you’re willing to abort, you probably tried to avoid the pregnancy by e.g. using contraceptives.
But if you have a policy that pays out in case of something that is generally wanted (ETA: by those doing it) - giving birth—then people would take out the policy only if they do want to give birth. Then the percentage of people with the policy who get paid would be near 100%, and the insurance company would make a loss on the policy, so they wouldn’t offer it.
Yes, I hadn’t thought about that. (And there’s no obvious way of proving that you’re using contraception to the insurance company, so you can’t even have a policy that pays only if you are.)
(Not sure about “generally wanted”, though: I guess that, among the people who are having sex today (in the developed world at least) the fraction who are trying to have a baby is much less than 1.)
EDIT: Maybe it could work if restricted to demographics who wouldn’t normally want a child (say, unmarried, below a certain age, and with income below a certain threshold) -- though the premiums mustn’t be so large that people would want to get pregnant only for the money.
Not sure about “generally wanted”, though: I guess that, among the people who are having sex today (in the developed world at least) the fraction who are trying to have a baby is much less than 1.)
Poor phrasing on my part, will fix. I meant that people who get pregnant and give birth (while having the options to use contraceptives and to abort) generally want to raise a child. Not that people in general want to raise one.
Maybe it could work if restricted to demographics who wouldn’t normally want a child
This depends on the availability, cost and effectiveness of preventatives and abortions: if they’re good enough, you don’t need to pay for pregnancy insurance, since they will prevent or abort the pregnancy.
In practice, since I haven’t heard of such insurance policies, I expect that they are indeed cheap and effective enough.
Not sure about that—for an insurance company to offer such a policy would likely be very bad publicity for a certain part of the population. Given charities have refused donations to avoid bad publicity...
For a target market of roughly half of all women (going by age of fertility) - a quarter of a population—who might consider buying such an insurance policy, an insurance company could probably afford to ignore everyone else. New companies could be started with no affiliation with ones that sells other kinds of insurance if necessary.
Of course, someone who legislated a tax on abortion would probably also legislate forbidding to insure against abortion.
Yes, I hadn’t thought about that.
Well, if they really wanted to they’d probably find a way around that. For example, they could call it an insurance on pregnancy (and claim they don’t require the pregnancy to be successful because a pregnancy ending in miscarriage also costs several months of your life, or stuff like that).
Wow, now that I think about this, such an insurance policy makes sense even if people aren’t going to abort. (Though being given $3000 una tantum doesn’t solve all the problems in the world for someone very poor who wants to raise a child.)
I’m not sure I understand. Are you suggesting an insurance policy that pays out if you get pregnant or give birth?
Normally insurance policies are taken against unwanted events. If you have a policy that pays out in case of abortion, that makes sense to the insurance company because if you’re willing to abort, you probably tried to avoid the pregnancy by e.g. using contraceptives.
But if you have a policy that pays out in case of something that is generally wanted (ETA: by those doing it) - giving birth—then people would take out the policy only if they do want to give birth. Then the percentage of people with the policy who get paid would be near 100%, and the insurance company would make a loss on the policy, so they wouldn’t offer it.
Yes, I hadn’t thought about that. (And there’s no obvious way of proving that you’re using contraception to the insurance company, so you can’t even have a policy that pays only if you are.)
(Not sure about “generally wanted”, though: I guess that, among the people who are having sex today (in the developed world at least) the fraction who are trying to have a baby is much less than 1.)
EDIT: Maybe it could work if restricted to demographics who wouldn’t normally want a child (say, unmarried, below a certain age, and with income below a certain threshold) -- though the premiums mustn’t be so large that people would want to get pregnant only for the money.
Poor phrasing on my part, will fix. I meant that people who get pregnant and give birth (while having the options to use contraceptives and to abort) generally want to raise a child. Not that people in general want to raise one.
This depends on the availability, cost and effectiveness of preventatives and abortions: if they’re good enough, you don’t need to pay for pregnancy insurance, since they will prevent or abort the pregnancy.
In practice, since I haven’t heard of such insurance policies, I expect that they are indeed cheap and effective enough.