I had a recent conversation on social media with a man who said he was OK with paying tax money for abortions in cases of rape and incest but not paying for “carte blanche” abortions. He also said that moving abortion back to the states would lead to smaller government.

I think he failed to understand what was really happening with anti-abortion laws. The Hyde Amendment famously prohibited tax dollars from paying for abortions under any circumstances. The use of tax dollars was never the issue in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court decision. This decision allows state governments to criminalize abortion.

The anti-abortion movement traffics in misinformation, and one of their favorites is suggesting that taxpayer dollars are being used to pay for abortions. Former President Trump also falsely claimed that abortions are being performed after birth, dubbing them “executions.” It is quite common for anti-abortion groups to suggest abortions happen later than they typically do, but this is a whole new level of deception.

The real-world consequences of these abortion bans are staggering. In Texas, pregnancy-related deaths increased by 56% after the state’s abortion ban took effect in 2021.

In my state of Indiana, GOP lieutenant governor candidate Micah Beckwith said he wants to make Indiana’s abortion ban even more restrictive by removing the exceptions for rape and incest.

So, returning abortion to the states is not about making government smaller or saving tax dollars. It’s actually making government bigger by criminalizing something that was previously legal.