A national study by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that one in 10 adults planning to have kids in the next decade has moved or knows someone who’s moved to another state because of abortion restrictions.
“Abortion bans are wildly unpopular, something that we knew already,” said Melisa Mahoney, senior research economist at IWPR and the study’s lead reporter. “But our study adds to this… in addition to concerns about access to abortion, people are really concerned about access to other types of reproductive health care.”
Mahoney said that there’s a clear “brain drain” effect — the substantial migration of individuals from a country or industry — across the country, and it’s “highly concerning” for employers.
“It’s going to affect who they employ, and it’s also going to affect the stability of the local economy, which can then have ripple effects on the workforce and economic activity in the area,” she said.
The survey of 10,000 adults found that 1 in 10 — and 1 in 5 planning to have children soon — have moved or know someone who has moved due to abortion restrictions in their state.
Some of the key findings of the study are that:
- Over 30% of adults say they are less likely to relocate for a job to a state with a total abortion ban.
- Over 36% of adults say they’re less likely to accept a job that requires relocation to a state that lacks contraception access.
- 38% report they are less likely to accept a job that would have them relocate to a state with lack of prenatal care.
Florida ranked the highest in people who are concerned about contraception access, with 58%. This can likely be attributed to the state’s near-total ban on abortion after six weeks, one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country.
People in Florida also care about:
- Reproductive healthcare policies, with 35% of residents disagreeing with state laws on the issue. This is the second highest percentage in the country.
- Abortion costs, with 58% of residents expressing concern about the price tag. This is the highest percentage in the country.
Mahoney said highly skilled workers are the most likely to leave restrictive states, particularly healthcare workers like OB-GYNs and prenatal doctors, who are “leaving states like Tennessee,” for example.
States like California, New York, Oregon and Maine consistently rank higher in the study for things like resident satisfaction with reproductive policies, and willingness for employees to speak out on reproductive healthcare.
Meanwhile, less skilled workers with lower incomes are less likely to leave their jobs, especially those who “are established in the areas,” with careers and families.
Mahoney said the IWPR’s future research will especially focus on narrowing down these demographics of people who are likely to move their livelihoods according to their state’s reproductive policies.
They want to get details on how much things like age, education level, economic status and more affect people’s decisions, because “that information will be really important for policy-makers.”
The national poll of just over 10,000 adults was conducted between August 27-September 1, 2024. The interviews were conducted online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of adults based on age, gender, race, educational attainment, region, gender by age, and race by educational attainment. Results have a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percentage points.
