“Texas doesn’t own your body. You do,” a billboard reads, with an image of a woman with her hands chained behind her back. It’s part of an ad campaign launched by California Gov. Gavin Newsom in Indiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota and Texas. Another of the ads has a photo of a young woman who looks sad and scared. The text reads: “Need an abortion? California is ready to help.” There’s a link to California’s abortion information website.

Abortion as a Quick Fix

The governors of some of the states targeted by Newsom’s campaign are Republicans who are up for reelection this year. In recent decades, proponents of abortion have hidden behind euphemisms including “choice,” “reproductive rights” and “health care” to avoid the unpopular word “abortion.” But since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court, things have started to change. Instead of deploying vague terminology, the most radical abortion advocates — some of whom are in public office — have begun to present abortion as a quick fix to an otherwise life-changing problem. Instead of the freedom to choose, many women feel like they have no choice but to have an abortion.

Providing for Life

States like Louisiana and Arizona are leaders in making sure women know what their options are — both have websites explaining alternatives in detail, including the ins and outs of adoption, something which studies have shown few people know much about.

Those who describe themselves as pro-life are by no means off the hook now that the federally guaranteed right to abortion is no more. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Idaho Rep. Ashley Hinson introduced the Providing for Life Act this month. In contrast with Newsom’s come-and-get-your-abortion campaign, Rubio and Hinson’s legislation includes creating a federal website that would be a clearinghouse for pro-life resources across the country before, during and after pregnancy.

“These could include federal and state assistance programs, federally funded local health clinics, mentorship opportunities, material or legal support, childcare, adoption resources and more,” the legislation reads. It would also include access to a government hotline that would “provide immediate mental health support for women and assist them with finding local resources on the clearinghouse.”

Its many provisions include reforms to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, that would extend the postpartum benefit from six months to two years; the breastfeeding eligibility benefit period from one year to two; and it would adjust voucher benefits for fruits and vegetables to inflation. It includes expansion of tax credits, the ability of new parents to use up to three months of their Social Security benefits to help with parental leave, informed consent for pregnant students on college campuses, funding for local community mentoring programs for low-income mothers and other practical supports.

Make It More Doable to Survive and Thrive

In the wake of Roe, we need less polarization when it comes to abortion. Abortion should never be a woman’s only option. We’d all be better neighbors if we got out of our ideological silos and worked to make it more doable for single mothers and families to survive and thrive in all our states, whatever our stance on abortion.

Kathryn Jean Lopez is senior fellow at the National Review Institute, editor-at-large of National Review magazine and author of the new book A Year With the Mystics: Visionary Wisdom for Daily Living. She is also chair of Cardinal Dolan’s pro-life commission in New York. She can be contacted at klopez@nationalreview.com.