Abortion is now illegal in 14 states. Here's -2-

When you then look at poor women, they are dramatically less likely to have control of the pregnancy [and have] less access to contraception. They have the most abortions but are most likely to have an abortion with a later child - the third child they can't afford - because they're struggling to provide for the first two and they have dramatically less support.

MarketWatch: You also mention in the book that there are "sharp class and regional divisions in access to contraception and abortions." How does that affect the gender pay gap?

Nancy Levit: So it's not just about abortion. It's also about access to contraception and then, again, it's the replication of class divisions. There was an Institute for Women's Policy Research study that showed that women who have access to contraception, beginning I think ages 18 to 21, they're going to earn 5% more per hour, 11% more per year by the time they're 40, compared [with those who gained access to contraception at age 21]. So it's this accumulation of the control of one's reproductive rights. It has a pretty direct translation into the pay gap that will occur.

MarketWatch: What does that mean, then, for the pay gap with men? Does it mean that the pay gap is going to widen, because women living in different states and with different socioeconomic backgrounds don't have the same access to abortion?

Cahn: There was an amazing economist amicus brief in the Dobbs case, and that brief cites all kinds of research on the impact of abortion legalization on women's education, on women's labor-force participation, on women's income and occupations - and says, in fact, they were particularly strong for Black women.

Taking this all together - given the importance of being able to control one's reproductive life and given the importance of controlling reproduction [when it comes] to gender equity and to achieving one's full potential, both at work and at home - I think we could project that this will not help the gender wage gap.

Levit: I think that the studies [like the Turnaway Study] are there, if you look at them cumulatively, to show, yes, there are going to be distinctly gendered economic consequences. And one of the things we haven't touched on but as women we're pretty aware of - all of us have been talking about just the economic effects, and there is an extraordinary psychological, emotional toll about not having access to reproductive rights. That's priceless, right?

Cahn: There's also an impact not just on the women themselves, but also on the next generation. So again, going back to the Turnaway Study, it found that children who were born as a result of their mothers being denied abortions were more likely to live below the poverty level.

MarketWatch: So it's multigenerational.

Cahn: Exactly, multigenerational. It's not just on the person denied the abortion.

-Zoe Han

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06-28-24 1315ET

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