Financial Reasons Women Choose Abortion with Emily Berning
The abortion debate tends to produce more heat than clarity, in part because both sides have incentives to avoid certain questions. Pro-life advocates worry that acknowledging the reasons women give for seeking abortions will lend legitimacy to the pro-choice position. Pro-choice advocates insist that a woman who chooses life under financial pressure hasn’t really chosen freely. Neither posture serves women well.
Emily Berning, co-founder and president of Let Them Live, starts from a different premise: that women seeking abortions are often behaving rationally given the constraints they face, and that the most effective pro-life response is to change those constraints. Let Them Live provides direct financial assistance — rent, car payments, utilities — to women in crisis pregnancies who say they would choose life if they had the resources to do so.
The 73% figure is the starting point. That is the proportion of women seeking abortions who cite financial burden as a primary factor. Let Them Live treats that as actionable information rather than a talking point. Their model is triage: identify the immediate financial crisis, intervene directly, and do so without making proselytization part of the service.
The team is Christian; the organization’s work is not contingent on shared faith. That distinction expands their reach and sidesteps the objection — raised by some Christian apologists — that financial assistance amounts to bribery. Berning addresses that objection directly: meeting a material need is not coercion, and the women Let Them Live serves are not being manipulated into a decision. They are being given a genuine option where before they had none.
The conversation also addresses the post-Roe landscape. Legislative victory shifted the terrain but did not solve the underlying problem. Women in states with abortion restrictions still face the same financial pressures, and the pro-life movement now has to deliver on the implicit promise that support would be available. Let Them Live is one organization doing exactly that — operating a 24/7 hotline, using social media as a primary outreach tool, and making direct payments to creditors on behalf of the women they serve.
Join me, Kerry Baldwin with Emily Berning, as we Dare to Think about what it will take for women to choose life.
Main Points of Discussion
| 00:00 | Introduction |
| 01:25 | About Emily Berning |
| 07:07 | The mission of Let Them Live: direct financial support for women in crisis pregnancies |
| 09:07 | The real cost of motherhood |
| 11:17 | Do women want to choose abortion? How financial pressure drives the decision |
| 13:34 | How the overturn of Roe v. Wade shifted the pro-life focus from legislation to support |
| 17:15 | How political incentives get in the way of actually helping women |
| 20:43 | The stigma of single motherhood and its role in abortion decisions |
| 21:54 | Why Let Them Live operates without a proselytizing mandate — and why that expands their reach |
| 24:22 | Why Let Them Live is something both pro-life and pro-choice advocates can support |
| 26:52 | How Let Them Live differs from other pro-life organizations |
| 30:08 | The operational model: hotline, social media outreach, and direct bill payment |
| 33:33 | Responding to requests for help on social media |
| 34:55 | Monthly financial goals and donor accountability |
| 38:37 | Closing remarks |
Featured Guest Bio | Emily Berning
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Let Them Live was founded by Nathan and Emily Berning in 2019 after they were connected with a woman who was homeless and abortion-minded because she couldn’t pay her bills.
They emptied their bank account and gave her the financial assistace she needed to keep her baby. After saving her and her baby from abortion, they realized that many other women were getting abortions due to financial burden often caused by the father of the baby or from lack of support from immediate friends and family.
And so Let Them Live was born – with a mission dedicated to financially and emotionally supporting these moms so that they can confidently choose life for their babies.
Let Them Live’s innovative and compassionate model of financial and emotional assistance to abortion-minded mothers has a proven track record of success. Supporters can now experience the same joy that Nathan and Emily had that comes with saving a life from abortion through their donations to Let Them Live.
Based out of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Let Them Live now assists hundreds of moms from all over the United States each year. Consider joining the fight against abortion by donating, volunteering, orspreading our message of love and support online.
FAQs
What is Let Them Live and what does it do?
Let Them Live is a non-profit organization that provides direct financial assistance to women in crisis pregnancies who say they would choose life if they had the resources to do so. Rather than offering counseling or referrals, the organization pays bills directly — rent, car payments, utilities — to address the immediate financial crisis driving the abortion decision.
Why do most women seek abortions?
Research consistently shows that financial hardship is the primary factor for the majority of women seeking abortions — approximately 73% cite economic burden as a significant reason. Many of these women are not exercising a preference for abortion; they perceive it as the only viable option given their circumstances. Let Them Live treats that as a solvable problem.
Is financial assistance to pregnant women a form of bribery?
Some Christian apologists have raised this objection. The answer is no. Bribery involves inducing someone to act against their own interest or judgment through improper incentives. Providing material support so a woman can act on a choice she already wants to make — but cannot afford — is not coercion. It is the removal of a constraint. The women Let Them Live serves are not being manipulated; they are being given a genuine option.
How does Let Them Live find and help women?
The organization uses social media as its primary outreach tool and maintains a 24/7 hotline. When a woman reaches out, the team assesses her immediate financial needs and makes direct payments to creditors on her behalf. The model is similar to emergency triage: identify the acute crisis and intervene directly.
Is Let Them Live a Christian organization?
The team is primarily Christian, but the organization does not make proselytization part of its work. Women are helped regardless of their faith background. This is an intentional operational decision — it expands the organization’s reach and keeps the focus on the immediate need.
How does this approach fit a libertarian pro-life position?
A libertarian pro-life position holds that abortion violates the self-ownership of the unborn and is therefore not a legitimate exercise of the mother’s self-ownership. But recognizing the legal wrong does not exhaust the response. Women who face genuine financial constraint are not freely choosing abortion — they are responding rationally to a situation of perceived no-choice. Voluntary, non-coercive support that expands real options is exactly the kind of response consistent with a libertarian framework: no state mandate, no coercion, just individuals and organizations acting within their own sphere to address a genuine need.
