New Report: A Road Map for Conservative, Pro-Family Welfare Reform

New Report: Jamie Hall, Leslie Ford, & Robert Rector, A Road Map for Conservative, Pro-Family Welfare Reform, Heritage, (Dec. 9, 2022). Overview below:

After the Supreme Court’s landmark Dobbs decision, it is vital that the safety net be reformed in a way that truly supports and encourages better outcomes for mothers, children, and families. Conservatives who want to advance this pro-family reform must build on the success of the 1996 reform and avoid policies that increase subsidies for single parenthood. Because most abortions occur to non-married women, when marriage declines and non-marital pregnancies increase, abortions increase as well. A pro-family policy agenda should be guided by policies designed to improve the well-being families through marriage, work, and accountability in the safety net.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. Policymakers should not respond to the Dobbs decision by seeking to restore aspects of the pre-reform welfare system that heavily subsidized single parenthood.
2. Instead, reforms should follow the 1996 welfare reform, which halted the decline of marriage, decreased abortions, increased work, and reduced child poverty.
3. Programs intended to support mothers, children, and families should eliminate marriage penalties, improve work incentives, reduce fraud, and pay for real outcomes.