BPAS justifies legal abortion as a response to contraceptive failure. In July 2017, the advisory service said that a quarter of the over 60,500 women who had an abortion at its clinics in 2016 were using either hormonal contraception or a long-acting reversible contraceptive method when they became pregnant. Over half were using contraception of some kind.
In the U.K., 9 in every 100 women who use the contraceptive pill will become pregnant, as will 6 in 100 who use the contraception injection, and 1 in 100 who use the copper coil intrauterine device. Some pro-life advocates argue that increased contraception access may lead people to engage in risky sexual behavior, thus leading to higher rates of unintended pregnancy.
The British policy stands in contrast to several other European countries, almost all of which are experiencing fertility rates below the replacement rate.
During February 2019, the Prime Minister of Hungary announced that women with four children or more will be exempt from paying income tax for life.
France and Germany are among the other countries that have created policies to incentivize couples to have more children, but have still struggled to substantially increase the national fertility rate.
In the United States, a group of conservative figures in July called on Congress to expand tax credits for families to ease the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a July 16 letter to the leaders of Congress, the signers called for an expansion of the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit.
For families with one child, the maximum EITC for 2019 was $3,526, while the maximum credit for families with three or more children is $6,557, according to the IRS. The current numbers for 2020, which the IRS has already announced, are similar. The CTC provides for a tax credit for people with a child under the age of 17, with a current maximum credit amount per qualifying child of $2,000. The maximum amount per child that can be received as a refund is $1,400.