Economic security

Want to fight poverty? Expand access to contraception.

Pope Francis’s visit has brought renewed attention to some of our nation’s toughest economic challenges: inequality, poverty and income (im)mobility. These are pressing issues that leaders of both political parties say they want to tackle, but they disagree on useful, or even acceptable, policy tools. I have a humble suggestion for an antipoverty policy that, if framed correctly, could appeal to both left and right (though probably not Francis).That policy: better access to contraception. In a sense it’s unfortunate that contraception – forget the more divisive issue of abortion – has been primarily framed as an issue about feminism, sexual liberation and other flashpoints in the culture wars.