Within weeks or even days, the U.S. Supreme Court will announce whether it has overturned Roe v. Wade, and employers across the country must be ready to act immediately to ensure that their employees will still be able to access critical reproductive health care.
For many people, particularly women in low-wage jobs and women of color, access to safe and reliable health care, including abortion, can mean the difference between economic insecurity and economic advancement. Research shows that denying people access to a legal abortion has reverberating impacts on their ability to participate in and succeed in the American labor market—and that one in four women will have an abortion in their lifetime.
Employers have a critical role to play in reducing the gaps in access that would arise if Roe were overturned and abortion bans immediately became the law as expected, in 22 states, and in the four other states poised to enact new bans. Employer action is essential—not only to help keep individuals and families on paths to economic advancement even as they wrestle with difficult decisions about abortion, but also to curb the negative impact such a policy shift would have on the broader economy and on their companies’ ability to thrive.
Learn more, read the full article on corporate.jff.org.