Ohio Law Would Allow Claiming of Unborn on Taxes

Expecting parents would be allowed to claim "conceived children" as dependents on their state income taxes under a proposed law in Ohio.

House Bill 654, or the aptly titled Strategic Tax Options for Raising Kids (STORK) Act, would allow Ohioans to list embryos or fetuses conceived during the tax year as dependents, according to The Hill. If the couple files separate returns, only the pregnant mother would be able to claim the unborn child.

The bill would pertain to taxable years ending on or after Jan. 1.

State Rep. Gary Click, who introduced the measure, said the financial pressures of preparing for a baby can be eased by allowing parents to claim a child beginning the year they were conceived instead of the year they were born.

"There's a lot of money that's spent in preparation," Click told The Hill. "You start spending money as soon as you know that you have a baby on the way, and yet you can't claim that child."

Click cited data from the Peterson-Kaiser Family Foundation, which found that the average cost of having a baby in the U.S. in 2022 was $18,865. That figure included the cost of pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum care. The average out-of-pocket cost for those enrolled in healthcare plans was $2,854.

The Republican lawmaker said that the STORK Act was inspired by discussion surrounding the Personhood Act, which he introduced in July 2022. That bill would have added to the Ohio Revised Code that an individual's personhood is declared from the moment of conception. The Personhood Act did not pass the Legislature.

"In the midst of the conversation, somebody was really being a smart aleck, and they said, 'Well, can we claim them on our taxes?'" Click said. "And I thought, ‘Well, you know, that actually does make sense.'"

Opponents of House Bill 654 have criticized it as an attempt to recognize the unborn as people and undercut state abortion rights. Click disagrees.

"A tax bill for the state level is not going to undo the constitutional amendment," he said. "This could be pro-life or pro-choice. Either way, people on both sides have babies, and to recognize that parents have expenses for those babies before the baby comes just seems logical to me."

Click told The Hill he does not believe the measure will pass by the time Ohio's legislative session ends in December. If not, he plans to reintroduce it next session.

"I wanted to start the conversation, and I'm getting some good questions and good feedback along the way," Click said. "If the people who hate the bill have some constructive advice that can help bring some unity to this, I'm willing to listen to them if we can do something to make this bipartisan. I think it should be bipartisan because Republicans and Democrats all have babies. We all pay taxes."

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