How access to abortion impacts personal finances: Authors of the Turnaway Study

Abortion is an important issue for many voters, especially young women, heading into the November election.

Access to abortion is more than politics or medicine. Diana Green Foster, a demographer who studies the impact of unwanted pregnancies on people’s lives, says it’s also a matter of personal finances.

Foster, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, led the Turnaway Study, a groundbreaking study of the socio-economic outcomes for Americans who are denied an abortion. The study followed 1,000 women over a five-year period ending in January 2016. All women in the study had wanted an abortion at some point before the study began. Not everyone received it.

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In November, voters in 10 states will choose whether to adopt state ballot measures on abortion access: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, and South Dakota.

These ballot measures follow a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down Roe v. Wade, which established a constitutional right to abortion in 1973.

According to the KFF Women Voter Survey, conducted between September 12 and October 1 among 649 women, women under 30 nationwide ranked abortion as the most important issue to vote on on Election Day. There is. A poll by health policy research provider KFF found that behind inflation and the threat to democracy are important issues among women voters of all ages.

Abortion is one of the least important issues to registered Republicans, according to a Pew Research Center poll of 9,720 U.S. adults conducted from Aug. 26 to Sept. 2.

CNBC spoke with Foster about the economics of abortion access and the economic impact of ending Roe v. Wade.

The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Greg Iakursi: Can you describe the population of women who typically seek abortions in the United States?

Diana Green Foster: One of the nice things about The Turnaway Study is that our demographics are very similar to the national demographics of people who get abortions.

More than half are already raising children. More than half are in their 20s. Many people think that teenagers are the main recipients, but teenagers are in the minority.

It’s mainly low-income people. As time goes on, this trend becomes more and more the case. It is disproportionately concentrated among those with the least economic resources.

G: Why is that?

DGF: I think wealthy people have better access to contraceptives, even after being mandated by Obamacare. Not everyone will benefit from it. Not all states are on board with it.

[Medical providers] We’re still handing out birth control pills. Although 20 states have laws that allow you to get a year’s supply at a time, there are very few places where you can actually get it. The law says you should be able to get it, but in reality you can’t. I led a study showing that if you make people go back for supplements every month or every three months, as is very commonly done, they are far more likely to have an unwanted pregnancy. did. The law has changed, but the practice has not. Access is still not perfect.

Others may intend to become pregnant but terminate the pregnancy because of something wrong with their health, the health of their unborn child, or their living environment. Therefore, even contraceptive pills are not a fundamental solution.

GI: What are the economic findings of the study?

DGF: When we follow people over time, we find that those who are denied an abortion are more likely to say their household income is below the federal poverty line. They are more likely to say they do not have enough money to meet basic living needs such as food, shelter, and transportation.

The desire to support existing children is a common reason for abortion. We find that if a mother is unable to have an abortion, her existing children are more likely to fall into poverty and be placed in families without sufficient resources.

[They’re also] If she is denied an abortion, she is likely to be evicted and end up incurring large amounts of debt.

GI: Can you quantify those impacts?

DGF: For example, six months after seeking an abortion, 61% of those who were denied an abortion were below the poverty line, while just under half (45%) of those who received an abortion were below the poverty line. I did. There is a high probability that the following will occur. [federal poverty line] It continued for 4 years.

And, based on their credit reports, women who are denied an abortion end up with significantly more debt at least 30 days past due, to an average of $1,749.70, a 78% increase compared to pre-pregnancy. I found out that [average]. The number of public records such as bankruptcies, evictions, and court judgments of people who were denied abortions increased significantly by 81%.

GI: How can this happen?

DGF: Having children is a huge investment. Raising children depends on access to social support, housing security, and health care, and our country is simply not equipped to provide these to low-income people.

GI: Your research was conducted at a time when Roe v. Wade was still law. it is Not anymore. How do you expect these economic impacts to be?

DGF: The Turnaway Study found that in some cases abortions were refused because the pregnancy was too far along, but around 13 states now allow abortions to be refused at any point in the pregnancy. Therefore, it may affect more people.

But there were other changes related to resources to help people travel and information about how to order abortion pills online. This means that not everyone who wants an abortion is currently pregnant to term.

There have been a lot of efforts to circumvent state laws, and I think The Turnaway Study really reveals why. People understand their situation and are very willing to receive care, even if the state tries to ban it.

GI: What are the economic consequences that some women in these states may face?

DGF: I am actually researching the end of low and the economic cost of travel [expense]. The cost for people traveling out of state increased by $200. People were delayed for more than a week.

Under Roe, people could drive to abortion clinics or get a ride. [after Roe ended,] They were much more likely to fly and needed to use more transportation. More than half stayed overnight. They traveled for an average of 10 hours. This means that you will also be taking time off from work. This has significantly increased the costs for people traveling to obtain abortions.

Some people order pills online but don’t get them [included] In the study. For those people, costs may be coming down, as they can order the pills online for less than $30.

But you need to know about it, you need an address, you need internet, and you need some knowledge to do it. Follow-up medical care may be needed and should be available.