State abortion restrictions and bans have done substantial damage to the U.S. economy since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022. 

A new report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a national think tank focused on economic equity and eliminating barriers for women, estimates that the 16 states with the most restrictive abortion policies are responsible for more than $68 billion in annual lost earnings. In places like Alabama, Louisiana, and West Virginia, abortion bans have pushed women out of the workforce, diminished their earnings, and limited job growth, the report found.  

Removing reproductive health-care barriers could result in an estimated 325,000 more women aged 15-44 participating in the workforce each year, the report shows. That could boost the national gross domestic product of the entire country by 0.5 percent. 

“Abortion bans are a drag on the economy by impacting women’s choices about their careers,” Melissa Holly Mahoney, the report’s co-author told Rewire News Group. “When women are unable to make choices about when, or if, to start a family, they are less willing to change jobs, to take time out from employment for education or skills-training, which could then lead to higher-paying jobs.”

Without family planning options, Mahoney said, other women can end up “leaving the labor force altogether.” 

The report was published on June 16, 2026, and Rewire News Group obtained early access to the data. When considering the impacts of all state-level abortion restrictions nationwide—and not just the 16 most restrictive laws—combined with federal policy changes, it calculates that the financial cost to the U.S. economy could climb to an annual average of $140 billion. 

“Either I pay our bills, buy diapers or formula”

The health harms of abortion bans imposed since 2022 have been well documented. 

Women who live under abortion bans are nearly twice as likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth, or postpartum as people with full access to reproductive health care. Infants are also more likely to die in states with abortion bans.

Now, economic research is increasingly demonstrating how far beyond health-care these bans are taking their toll. 

Kayla, 26, who lives in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, was going to college to study criminal justice with the hope of........

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