“The Price of Safety: Stories of Abortions Denied, Careers Disrupted, and States Left Behind” connects lived experience to workforce and economic shifts driven by reproductive healthcare restrictions

Washington, DC — Today, the Center for Reproductive Rights released The Price of Safety: Stories of Abortions Denied, Careers Disrupted, and States Left Behind, a set of profiles revealing the human and economic toll of abortion bans. Through firsthand accounts from patients, physicians, founders, and business leaders, the profiles show how reproductive healthcare restrictions are reshaping decisions about where Americans live, work, train, and build families. 

The timing of the release is especially urgent: new housing and workforce research from economists Jason Lindo and Daniel Dench, also out today, confirms that the thirteen states with total abortion bans are experiencing slowed rental growth, rising vacancies, and measurable talent loss. The data builds on the researchers’ prior migration studies and reinforces the patterns seen in the personal stories. 

Those stories include: 

• Amanda Ducach, a health tech founder who relocated her company’s headquarters to Massachusetts to protect employees, families, and data privacy;
• Dr. Judy Levison, a longtime OB-GYN who retired and left Texas after abortion bans restricted and criminalized routine care; 
• Dani Mathisen, a medical trainee who chose to complete her OB-GYN residency in Hawaii to ensure she could practice full-spectrum, evidence-based care;
• Kayla Smith, who moved her family from Idaho to Washington after being denied abortion care following a severe fetal diagnosis;
• Chris Webb, a CEO who pledged to personally cover the cost of employees leaving nine ban states for abortion care while advocating for access;
• Elizabeth Weller, a patient who was denied timely emergency treatment during a life-threatening pregnancy complication and ultimately left Texas to safely grow her family in Missouri; and
• Tracy Young, a founder of multiple tech companies who suffered a miscarriage in Louisiana and connects reproductive healthcare access to women’s workforce participation, talent retention, and long-term economic stability.

“These stories show the real-world consequences of laws that criminalize standard medical care,” said Nancy Northup, President of the Center for Reproductive Rights. “Abortion bans don’t stay in exam rooms. They reshape communities, workplaces, and state economies. As long as politicians keep restricting care, families will keep moving, clinicians will keep leaving, and states will keep watching their competitive edge slip away.”

Key research reinforcing the stories’ themes, including the report released today:

• The new housing analysis finds that total abortion bans themselves reduce the overall appeal of living in those states. Following the implementation of the bans, rental vacancy rates rose significantly and rental growth slowed relative to states protecting abortion access – patterns consistent with reduced demand and shifting population preferences.
• These trends build on earlier studies from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Morning Consult, and workforce migration research conducted by Dench and Lindo, that showed younger, highly educated residents are most likely to leave states with abortion restrictions.  
• Additional research released last week shows that abortion bans are also associated with declines in residency applications, particularly in OB-GYN programs, in states with restrictions, reinforcing concerns raised throughout the series about long-term impacts on healthcare workforce stability. 

“The economic data and the firsthand accounts are telling the same story,” said Julia Taylor Kennedy, Senior Director at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “Reproductive rights are so crucial that Americans are uprooting their lives to ensure they have access to care. That means that, for employers and policymakers, abortion bans carry measurable workforce and competitiveness implications.” 

Abortion care is a crucial component of comprehensive maternal healthcare, used to manage miscarriages, dangerous pregnancies, and life-threatening pregnancy complications. The research released today and the stories in The Price of Safety demonstrate that when states block that care, they hurt patients and push talent across state lines — weakening communities and eroding economic growth. 

The Price of Safety: Stories of Abortions Denied, Careers Disrupted, and States Left Behind is available to read here.

Daniel Dench and Jason Lindo’s new report, The Value Market of Reproductive Rights: Evidence from U.S. Housing Markets can be found here.

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