Financial Times

By Claire Bushey

Wages and education significantly affected, brief says, as Supreme Court considers latest challenge to Roe vs Wade

The US debate over abortion typically focuses on politics, ethics and religion — but rarely economics.

This week, more than 150 economists and researchers weighed in on how women will be affected if states such as Mississippi and Texas are allowed to put stringent new restrictions on the procedure. Their intervention is part of a brewing legal battle that has the potential to reshape abortion access nationwide nearly 50 years after the US Supreme Court enshrined the constitutional right to the procedure in Roe vs Wade.

The economists filed a brief in a court case originating in Mississippi, Dobbs vs Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which is seeking to overturn Roe. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the Mississippi case on December 1, just months after refusing to stop a controversial “heartbeat bill” from taking effect in Texas.

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