Co-host Brianna Keilar asked, "If it [the draft opinion] stands, what do you expect that the effect is going to be on women participating in the workforce and in the economy?"
Bernstein responded, "That is such an important question, and for all the other extremely important questions, that’s one we probably haven’t heard enough of over the past couple of days. Some of our most rigorous and high-quality economic research — and by that, I mean research that really establishes causation — asks about this very question. And it finds that when you deny access to reproductive rights in general, but abortion rights in particular, to women, they have persistently worse economic outcomes. Financially, it’s like losing a job, it’s like being evicted, it’s losing health insurance, it’s like going to the hospital, in terms of its impact on their finances. If you look at occupation, earnings, education, maternal health, all of those indicators are significantly damaged when we restrict access to abortion. Again, some of our highest-quality research consistently finds that. And it finds that these effects are most pernicious for women of color and for younger women. So, this is — it’s a justice issue, it’s a liberty issue, it’s a women’s rights issue, of course, health issue first and foremost, personal decision. But it is also, at its core here, an economic issue, particularly, for younger women and women of color."
He added, "I would expect, based on a set of research that shows the devastating and persistent economic cost to women who don’t have access to abortion, if — especially if you’re someone in a state who doesn’t have the income to go to a different state, so, again, we are looking at another kind of inequality to America kind of dynamic here. Look, if you’re a wealthy person in a place without access, you can probably get yourself to a place where you can access an abortion."