Written by Ixchel Ceballos
The Year is 2025. Your Character: [FEMALE] The Affected: [MAN]
The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization led to Roe v. Wade being overturned.
Healthcare procedures that were legal in 2021 are now illegal.
In some states, legislation was quickly implemented to substitute for Roe v. Wade. In some cities, some local governments devised legal and policy strategies to mitigate the harms that abortion bans have on residents, “…such as adopting non-enforcement and non-prosecution strategies. [These efforts] can increase protections for persons accessing and providing reproductive care, but they cannot fully safeguard reproductive rights in states that prohibit abortion” (The Network for Public Health Law, 2022).
Not every community tried to replace Roe v Wade. As of late March, 2025, 12 states have total abortion bans, and 29 other states have abortion bans based on the gestational duration. Overall, 41 (82%) states currently have some sort of ban in place (Guttmacher Institute, 2025).
Hospitals in those states now suffer from Pareto inefficiencies in patient care, and multiple medical procedures that are not only used in choice abortions are being axed alongside standard abortions. This includes miscarriage care (dilation and curettage, dilation and evacuation) and ectopic pregnancies. This also includes medications such as methotrexate, mifepristone and misoprostol, which makes it harder for patients with chronic illnesses (cancer, autoimmune disease, abnormal bleeding, gastric ulcers) to access (Frederiksen, 2022).
As a result of the lack or delay of medical treatment, people are dying.
Option: [YOU DIE]
…In the hospital
While news sites have reported on deaths such as Amber Thurman and Candi Miller (Georgia) or Josseli Barnica and Nevaeh Crain (Texas), there are states that retain exceptions for life-threatening conditions, but the fear and uncertainty instilled in doctors over which treatments may or may not be considered a crime has had devastating effects on women in need of healthcare (Dunbar, 2024). This fear is emphasized by articles like “What doctors should know about emergency abortions in states with bans” (Association of American Medical Colleges, 2023).
As state laws generally punish doctors and healthcare professionals more so then the patient seeking an abortion, the economic loss of their inefficiency is hard to quantify but could observed through variables such as (a) less trust in hospitals/official healthcare, which leads to reduced revenue (b) long term impacts on who chooses to be a doctor (c) increased doctor stress and burnout, which leads to staff shortages and high turnover rates, which leads to a less effective hospital system as a whole (e) decreased health outcomes of the total population, which is correlated with GDP (Beck, 2020).
… it affects the outside world
However, when it comes to finding a quantitative death toll, it’s harder to pin down. Journalists and experts suspect it might take years, especially since the states where abortion is banned are doing nothing to research negative effects. Maternal death rates are certainly increasing, and many of these women die increasingly painful deaths from infection, sepsis, and eventual organ failure as they wait for an unviable fetus to lose its heartbeat (Surana, 2023).
Once a woman dies, there are a few things she can never again do.
She cannot (a) work to increase the GDP of her local or national economy, as an employee or employer (b) innovate and/or create new technology that allows for long term upward growth for her economy (c) cannot train or mentor anyone who would be able to learn her skills, and therefore cause a positive ripple effect on the economy. This includes her children (d) consume anything, and therefore stimulate GDP and local economies (e) take care of elderly parents, who will likely therefore be more dependent on state support, increasing government spending. This could lead to either government deficits, or less government spending in an area that needs it and could also contribute to economic growth (f) care for any other children she may have. Presumably the child will then go on to live with their other parent, a relative, or be put into the foster care system.
Character switch: [YES]
The other parent is now expected to do more childcare with less support, socially. This leads to them either working less (decrease in GDP, less paid in taxes) or working more to both make up for the other partner’s paycheck, and possibly daycare/babysitting costs. This increase in demand will lead to a permanent price increase for these services. As they expected to have another parent, they are now paying far more for a child then they expected and prepared for. These surprising, necessary costs can be considered emergency costs, which is a leading (43%) cause of credit card debt (Winters, 2024). Additionally, children who are raised in single parent households are less likely to attend college (French, 2022), which means that overall the quality of human capital will also decrease in the long run (compared to the economic potential). Correlated with attending college are business creation, owning significant assets, and critical thinking skills.
Abortions are often wanted for a number of reasons; financial/emotional instability, deceased/deported/absent spouse, youth, rape, distance from family/lack of support systems, not wanting a child. A percent of these forcibly borne children would end up in foster care– possibly at birth, possibly taken by Child Protective Services.
“Numerous social issues — homelessness, poverty, incarceration, mental health struggles, crime, substance use, and suicide — can often be traced back to foster care and the separation of children from their parents” (Stand Together, 2025).
More children in foster care would lead to increased government deficits, and foster care could become a political issue as taxpayers pay increasing amounts. It should be recognized that this is a partially avoidable expense as a percentage of women could foresee their child ending up in foster care, and get an abortion instead of creating an 18 year financial strain on the state.
There is a possibility that children would be a cost to that state for, say, 15 years, before committing suicide. Foster youth are x4 more likely to have made a suicide attempt in the past 12 months and x5 more likely to be hospitalized following a suicide attempt when compared to non-foster care youth (Youth Suicide Project, 2024). Because they never participated in the workforce (increase GDP), and are known to have few personal expenses (Low consumerism, low GDP), it is reasonable to assume these costs would be a net loss to the state.
There is a low possibility that job creation would be sparked to meet the increased need, but workers in these fields are known for high caseloads, low salaries and burnout (Anderson, 2000, Conrad and Kellar-Guenther, 2006, Nielsen et al., 2023).
Option [AT WHAT COST, LIFE?]
Some women have been able to dodge death by taking a road trip.
Not a fun one, considering many have to drive through multiple states, miss days of work, rent a spot for the night, and then have lots of pain afterwards. They also have to keep it all a secret.
“Georgia and Florida are just two examples of states with laws that subject women to the threat of prosecution for self-managing abortions. There are also a range of laws ‘related to fetal remains, child abuse, felony assault or assault of an unborn child, practicing medicine without a license, or homicide and murder’ that don’t even mention or outlaw abortion, but which have been used to investigate and prosecute people for conduct related to the alleged termination of their own pregnancies, even while Roe was the law of the land” (Dellinger & Pell, 2024).
**While most economic impacts that are involved with abortion bans do occur to/based around living women, that will be the focus of a follow up article.
Option [THE WORLD CALLED WOLF]
If women are dying at an especially high rate– or, more likely, dying in places where people were not very likely to die before (places full of young people, low crime rate), funeral and death services may also become a growing industry. Anything tied to the death of young women (equipment, cultural artifacts) would also increase in demand which could lead to both higher prices, increased firm competitiveness, or new supply lines as a result of increased international trade.
While overturning Roe v. Wade has obvious gendered implications, it also has drastic impacts on both wealth distribution and racialized violence.
Those who are wealthy will be able to leave states where their rights aren’t respected, taking their wealth with them. As states have less revenue and a higher percentage of low income people, they will have less tax revenue to address a higher need. Due to historic institutional racist practices, most people of color are located in low income areas. “These findings indicate that many pregnant people were unable to overcome barriers to access abortion services and instead were forced to continue an unwanted or unsafe pregnancy to term” (Bell, 2025).
Additionally, as more infants per 1000 live births died, more babies of color died on top of that.
Black infants died at a rate 11.0% higher than would be expected, equivalent to 265 additional infant deaths, or a 1.15 increase in the death rate per 1,000 live births—10.66 expected per 1,000 versus 11.81 observed (John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2025).
References
Using Local Ordinances, Resolutions, and Non-Prosecution Measures to Protect Reproductive Health. (n.d.). Network for Public Health Law. https://www.networkforphl.org/news-insights/using-local-ordinances-resolutions-and-non-prosecution-measures-to-protect-reproductive-health/
Guttmacher Institute. (2024, December 5). State bans on abortion throughout pregnancy. Www.guttmacher.org; Guttmacher Institute. https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/state-policies-abortion-bans
Frederiksen, B., Roberts, T., & 2022. (2022, November 17). Abortion Bans May Limit Essential Medications for Women with Chronic Conditions. KFF. https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/abortion-bans-may-limit-essential-medications-for-women-with-chronic-conditions/
Ranji, U., Salganicoff, A., & Published, L. S. (2024, May 2). Dobbs-era Abortion Bans and Restrictions: Early Insights about Implications for Pregnancy Loss. KFF. https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/dobbs-era-abortion-bans-and-restrictions-early-insights-about-implications-for-pregnancy-loss/
Dunbar, M. (2024, November). Pregnant Texas teen died after three ER visits due to impact of abortion ban. The Guardian; The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/01/teen-dies-abortion-ban-texas-neveah-crain
Dellinger, J., & Pell, S. K. (2024, April 18). The Criminalization of Abortion and Surveillance of Women in a post-Dobbs World. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-criminalization-of-abortion-and-surveillance-of-women-in-a-post-dobbs-world/
Johnson, C. S. (2020, April 27). How the health of a nation impacts GDP. Cornell SC Johnson. https://business.cornell.edu/hub/2020/04/27/health-nation-impacts-gdp/
Surana, K. (2023, July 27). Maternal Deaths Are Expected to Rise Under Abortion Bans, but the Increase May Be Hard to Measure. ProPublica. https://www.propublica.org/article/tracking-maternal-deaths-under-abortion-bans
Together, S. (2024). The current foster care system is broken. Here’s why. Standtogether.org. https://standtogether.org/stories/strong-safe-communities/the-current-foster-care-system-is-broken-heres-why
French, W. (2022, October 16). Two-Parent Household Correlation to College Education. ArcGIS StoryMaps; Esri. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/fe9e8650e29349b98955cc1eab70d0f8
Winters, M. (2024, January 9). 43% of Americans with credit card debt say it’s due to emergency expenses—here’s how much it’s costing them. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/09/43-percent-of-americans-with-credit-card-debt-say-its-due-to-emergencies.html
Education (LACOE), C. for D. and O. L. (CDOL) at L. A. C. O. of. (n.d.). Los Angeles County Youth Suicide Prevention Project. Localhost. https://preventsuicide.lacoe.edu/high-risk/homeless/
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. (2025, February 13). Two New Studies Provide Broadest Evidence to Date of Unequal Impacts of Abortion Bans | Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/two-new-studies-provide-broadest-evidence-to-date-of-unequal-impacts-of-abortion-bans
Fuseini, S. (2024). “Suffering in silence”: How social workers in child welfare practice experience and manage burnout. Children and Youth Services Review, 166, 107939. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.107939