Women who have access to legal contraception beginning at ages 18 to 21 earn an estimated 5% more per hour and 11% more per year by the time they’re 40 than those who do not have access to birth control, a 2019 report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research found. Contraceptive access has also been found to increase women’s college enrollment by up to 20%; the substantial increase in women’s labor force participation between 1970 and 1990 was largely due to the pill.
“Access to contraception has life-long economic benefits: enabling women to complete high school and higher levels of education, improving their earnings and labor force participation, and securing their economic independence,” the NWLC wrote in its amicus brief.
