WASHINGTON — After that leaked draft opinion showed the U.S. Supreme Court is moving to overturn Roe v. Wade, there has been a lot of attention on what ending the constitutional right to an abortion would mean for women and families. But there are researchers who have been looking at the relationship between the availability of the procedure and the economy.  

Houston native Kenya Martin said an abortion helped her become the best mother she could be to the young daughter she already had. There were several factors that played into her decision. She was in a custody battle. Martin was also trying to get back to school and struggled to find affordable health care and child care. The birth of her daughter was also a traumatic experience. Martin ended a pregnancy that would have made her a mother of two.     

​"If you don’t have the children, they have something to say. If we decide that we want to seek out government assistance, they’re going to have something to say," Martin said. “What do you want us to do? We just want to survive. We want to be able to be the authors of our lives, and parent on our terms. And we want people to trust us when we say that it is hard out here. It’s expensive to raise children. We can’t afford health care.”     

With the future of Roe up in the air, she thinks about the choices other struggling moms may face, if abortions are restricted.     

​“People being forced to parent who may already be parents and lack the resources to afford child care could really cause a strain on the economy when I think about it in the long term, because you’re gonna have people who really can’t afford to go out into the workplace, and they’re choosing to stay home and care for their children,” Martin said.

Some economists are worried about the economic toll if many states outlaw abortions. Last week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told senators that restricting abortion would have “very damaging effects” on the economy.

“Roe v. Wade and access to reproductive health care, including abortion, helped lead to increased labor force participation. It enabled many women to finish school that increase their earning potential. It allowed women to plan and balance their families and careers,” Yellen said.    

According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, restrictions on abortion imposed by states cost the economy $105 billion a year by reducing labor force participation and earnings levels and increasing turnover and time off from work.     

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, argues the ethical concerns outweigh any economic burdens. In a recent editorial, Rachel Greslzer, senior research fellow for budget and entitlements, and Jay Richards, director of the DeVos Center for Life, Religion and Family, said “Life should never be reduced to economics.”      

“Our economy is essentially the total of all the goods and services that the people in it produce. More producing people means more economic output—at least over the medium-to-long run. More abortions, however, means fewer people and so, ultimately, less output,” they wrote.     

Other anti-abortion groups dismiss such forecasts, pointing to what happened in Texas after it passed the most restrictive abortion law in the nation last year.      

“If you ban abortion, all of the states are going to turn blue. If you ban abortion, the economy will collapse. If you ban abortion, name any kind of doomsday prediction, they all fall flat. How do we know they’re gonna fall flat? Because the Texas Heartbeat Act has actually already proved that,” said Kimberlyn Schwartz, director of communication and media for Texas Right to Life.     

More than 150 economists from across the country submitted a brief to support the Mississippi abortion provider at the center of monumental case the Supreme Court is deciding. They cited studies about to how Roe v. Wade led to social and economic advancements. 

The Supreme Court is expected to issue its opinion on abortion rights in June or July.