The United States will see the devastating economic consequences of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Rowe against Wade, experts warned on Friday.
Why it matters: Turnaway’s landmark study found that women who have to carry unwanted pregnancies are four times more likely to fight poverty years later. Raising a child costs an average of more than $ 230,000, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
What they say: “This decision will cause immediate economic pain in 26 states where abortion bans are most likely and where people are already facing lower wages, less labor and limited access to health care. The fall of Roe will be an additional economic barricade, “said Heidi Schierholtz, president of the Institute for Economic Policy.
- “Abortion rights are economic rights, and this decision means a loss of economic security, independence and mobility for abortion seekers. Low- and middle-income people, especially black and brown women, will bear the brunt of the impact.”
- “Following the recent economic downturn, in which women have suffered huge job and income losses compared to men, the Supreme Court ruling has made it difficult for women to regain their economic base and plan for their future,” said Nicole Mason, president and CEO. of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a statement said.
- “Furthermore, the lack of access to the full range of reproductive health services in the states, including abortion care, will have a devastating effect on women’s short-term and long-term earnings and incomes, job security and career development, and increase their likelihood of impoverishment. . “
Background: In an amicus report presented to the Supreme Court last year, 154 economists wrote that there was “a significant amount of well-developed and credible research showing that abortion legalization and access to the United States has been – and continues to be – have a significant effect on the birth rate, as well as broad social and economic effects downstream, including on women’s educational attainment and job opportunities. “
- The document cites studies showing that access to abortion increases women’s participation in the workforce and that young women who used legal abortion to delay the unplanned onset of motherhood had an 11% increase in hourly wages later. in his career.
- However, a woman’s income would fall by 4% every time she gives birth or adopts a child – the “punishment for motherhood”, found the think tank Third Way with leftist convictions.
- Another study estimates that state-level abortion restrictions cost state economies $ 105 billion each year. Health experts have warned that such bans would increase maternal mortality.
- Abortions have been on the rise since 2017.
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