Democrats and abortion rights advocates gathered outside the Arizona Capitol on April 9, 2024, shortly after the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that an 1864 near-total abortion ban is enforceable. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | Arizona Mirror
Arizona’s 15-week abortion ban is projected to cost the state billions every year, with women forced out of the labor market as a result of inadequate reproductive health care, a new report says.
An analysis from the Grand Canyon Institute, a non-partisan think tank, warns that the economic hit to Arizona could be as high as $3.4 billion annually. The report, which relies on a July study from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, notes that current restrictions around abortion access will lead to steep workforce losses.
Among Arizona women between the ages of 15 and 44, participation in the labor market is expected to fall by 1% every year that abortion is restricted. For individual women and their families, that translates to a loss of $9,564 in annual income.
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The source of those economic pitfalls is Arizona’s gestational ban, which prohibits abortions performed after 15 weeks. There are only two exceptions: a life-saving procedure or one provided to avert the impairment of a woman’s “major bodily function.” Doctors who violate the law face a class 6 felony, which could result in a prison sentence between four months and two years.
Reproductive rights advocates are hoping voters strike down the ban in November by approving the Arizona Abortion Access Act. Proposition 139 would enshrine abortion in the state Constitution as a fundamental right and guarantee access to it up to the point of fetal viability, generally considered to be around 24 weeks. It also includes exceptions beyond that point, if a provider deems an abortion is necessary to preserve a woman’s life, physical or mental health.
In its report, the Grand Canyon Institute pointed out that the state of women’s health care in Arizona is already dismal. In a 2024 ranking of states by maternal mortality rates, Arizona fell near the bottom at 40.
Similarly, the availability of abortion clinics in Arizona is well below the national average of 1.5 clinics per 100,000 women. There are only nine women’s health clinics in the entire state that provide abortions, and the majority of them are located in Maricopa County.
Health care, higher education and the business industry in Arizona also stand to lose under the continued restriction of abortion access, according to the report. The Association of American Medical Colleges found that applications for medical residencies in states with abortion bans plummeted after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. In Arizona, interest from applicants dropped by 18.3% in the 2023-2024 application year — orders of magnitude greater than the national average decline of just 0.4%.
Applications for emergency medicine and OB-GYN residencies were the two most negatively impacted in Arizona. And, unless interest is recaptured, the future of health care in Arizona is likely to suffer. The federal government projects a 7% decline in OB-GYNs across the country by 2030, while demand is expected to increase during the same time frame.
Analysts for the Grand Canyon Institute added that prospective students and businesses are looking to move to states that offer comprehensive reproductive health care. A national survey found that 71% of college students, both male and female, said reproductive health care policies were important factors in their decision-making about where to enroll. And 62% of people aged 18 to 34 said they would refuse to relocate to a state with restrictive abortion policies — a critical barometer for businesses hoping to recruit and retain employees.
“Arizona is losing out in efforts to attract talent to the state,” warned the authors of the Grand Canyon Institute report.
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