The states that have enacted the harshest abortion restrictions, banning it outright or after six weeks, are, it turns out, the worst equipped to deal with the consequences of forcing people into parenthood.
These 15 states—controlled by Republicans, apart from a few Democratic governors—tend to rank among the nation’s worst in maternal mortality, child wellness, and food security. They offer less access to affordable health care, too, which makes it harder for women, for example, to obtain birth control prescriptions. “It’s like they want us to have them,” explains 38-year-old Melissa Kearse, a Georgia single mother of five, “but they are not giving us any aid to raise these kids.”
Congress, for now, is unlikely to solve the problem. Making abortion legal nationwide would require 60 Senate votes to override…