On June 24th of 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6-3 in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to overturn Roe v. Wade, upending a five decades-long precedent on women’s reproductive healthcare rights.
Previous research has linked reproductive healthcare with improved outcomes for women and children.
• The legalization of abortion reduced teen motherhood by 34 percent.
• The legalization of abortion reduced maternal mortality, including by 40 percent for Black women.
• Women who are denied access to abortions experience a 78 percent increase in past-due debt and an 81 percent increase in bankruptcies and evictions.
• For young women who experience unintended pregnancies, access to abortion improves college graduation rates by 18 percent and boosts employment by as much as 27 percent.
• The legalization of abortion lowered childhood poverty, decreased crime rates, and improved children’s educational outcomes.
Despite six-in-ten Americans (61 percent) saying that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, there are at least 20 states that have already banned or are likely to ban the procedure. These states were restricting abortion access through various regulations prior to the Dobbs decision. By contrast, Illinois has expanded women’s reproductive rights and ensures that health insurance plans cover reproductive healthcare.
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