Letter to the Editor

Editor:
What mother doesn’t want her children to have a good life?

The evidence is overwhelming: banning abortion will negatively impact women, their families—and the economy more broadly—making providing a good life a whole lot harder for women in 26 states.

The #1 reason women give for having an abortion is financial. Denying abortion care creates economic hardship. An unwanted pregnancy decreases women’s college graduation by 20% and hinders employment and earning prospects by 40%. (By contrast, delaying motherhood by just one year increases wages by 11%.)

While politicians focus narrowly on subjective moral issues, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and 154 distinguished economists, have spoken out about the hard financial truths. Overturning Roe will be “very damaging” to the economy and “set women back decades.”

The Turnaway Study examined the effects of receiving versus being denied a wanted abortion on women and their children. Those refused abortion care were four times more likely to live in poverty compared to women who accessed care.

In my three decades with Women Infants and Children (WIC), I counseled hundreds of rural families, seeing firsthand the challenges of raising children on minimum wage.

Financial adversity is generational, impacting educational attainment, earnings and crime. Access to abortion helps break the cycle of poverty—and the hardships of single motherhood.

Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, says abortion bans mean “thousands of lives saved.” What kind of lives?

Reproductive rights are on the ballot this November. Vote for candidates who will protect abortion access.

Sue Morris
Mill Hall, PA