by Jessica Blake, Chalkbeat
The following article, was originally published on June 24, 2022, by Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organization covering public education. Sign up for their newsletters at .
New restrictions on abortion could increase child poverty and hurt women鈥檚 educational prospects, among other potential impacts on American schools.
The Supreme Court鈥檚 on Friday hands abortion rights to the states, already have or are very likely to enact laws that will ban or sharply curtail the practice.
As a result, experts predict at least some increase in teen births, higher rates of childhood poverty, and decreased female participation in the workforce 鈥� though the magnitude of those changes are difficult to predict.
鈥淚t is so clear that we have an evidence base that women鈥檚 mental health, women鈥檚 economic prospects, women鈥檚 educational prospects are going to be damaged by lack of access to abortion,鈥� said Sarah Cohodes, an associate professor of economics and education at 911爆料网. 鈥淚f it follows past patterns, and there鈥檚 no reason why that won鈥檛, it will be focused on young people and Black pregnant people.鈥�
Child poverty
Economists have shown that abortion access affects a pregnant person鈥檚 decision whether and when to have a child, with a variety of effects on their lives and their families.
鈥淪hort term, what you鈥檙e going to see is a rise in child poverty,鈥� Barnard College Professor of Women and Economics Elizabeth Ananat said. 鈥淲omen use the access to abortion as one of the tools for for family planning and for timing birth so that they come at a time when they when the parent is best able to support a family.鈥�
A study conducted at the University of California, San Francisco, showed people who were denied an abortion and went on to give birth experienced an lasting at least four years relative to those who received an abortion.
In concrete terms, that means those women struggled to cover basic living expenses like food, housing, and transportation. They also experienced blows to their financial security, like lower credit scores, increased debt, and a higher likelihood of bankruptcy and eviction.
The children they already had were more likely to experience developmental delays, lower test scores, and behavioral issues.
鈥淭hat is directly attributable to the stress and strain on their mother and on their family, from being forced to carry this unwanted pregnancy to term,鈥� Ananat said.
Poverty affects children鈥檚 performance in school, and there are 鈥溾�� to prove it, Cohodes said. Research has directly , including test scores and graduation rates.
Teen births and graduation rates
Teen pregnancy rates in the U.S. have been dropping for decades, and show they hit another low in 2020.
Abortion rates among teens over the same period, though they . They also vary widely across states, and teens who do get pregnant already face on abortion access in many parts of the country. In many (but not all) , teen abortion rates were .
That means drastic changes are unlikely. But the new restrictions are likely to have some effect on teen birth rates, Ananat said.
鈥淚f the abortion rate goes down [further], as it is predicted to when this happens, then what that will do is lead to more women forced to carry to term who don鈥檛 want to, it may well mean more teens,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hose are all going to be pressures on schools.鈥�
Teens who have children face new obstacles to continuing their education.
Just over half of young women who gave birth as teens received a high school diploma, , a nonpartisan research institute. That鈥檚 in comparison to 90% of those who did not. Exactly how much of that gap is caused by having a child, as opposed to other factors, has been debated by , but experts generally agree teen parenthood has an impact.
For young women who want to pursue higher education, graduating high school on time (if at all) is a 鈥渉uge milestone,鈥� said Cohodes.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very hard to see that happening for young women who have an infant in a society that doesn鈥檛 have a lot of support for people with infants that don鈥檛 have resources on their own.鈥�
Kevin Lang, a Boston University economics professor, found in a he co-authored that unwed pregnant teens who gave birth between 1940 and 1968 鈥� pre-Roe 鈥� were 16% more likely to drop out of high school compared to those who miscarried.
Today, contraception is more advanced, graduation rates are higher, and abortion will still be accessible to some at varying degrees, Lang said, but the research helps anticipate a general trend.
Another challenge: Schools may lack the support teen parents need to reach graduation, especially given the designed for them in recent years.
鈥淭here are pregnant and parenting students now and we don鈥檛 see overwhelming support and programming options for those students in the current system,鈥欌�� Cohodes said.
The education workforce
New restrictions on abortion are also likely to have some affect on the teaching force, , if educators leave the workforce as a result of pregnancy or lack of child care.
Broadly, experts expect abortion bans or limitations to have the heaviest impact on , . U.S. teachers are college educated and mostly .
鈥淭his is not going to be a big aggregate impact,鈥� Lang said. 鈥淲hat there will be are specific cases where both the teacher who was not planning to get pregnant is affected by this, and of course, the classroom where she was planning to spend the year.鈥�
Ananat said that although the number of teachers in affected states forced to leave the workforce will likely be modest, when they do leave it will likely be sporadic and unpredictable. She expects that will only be an added strain on districts already .
鈥淕iven the teacher shortage that many places are reporting right now, even small increases in teacher attrition 鈥� especially sort of unpredictable teacher attrition 鈥� can be something that is really felt by a system,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his could be sort of like the straw that breaks the camel鈥檚 back in some situations.鈥�
Supreme Court decisions moving forward
After the draft opinion overturning Roe was , some conservative and right-wing voices have suggested the decision could influence the Supreme Court to revisit other landmark civil rights cases like Brown v. Board of Education, which banned the practice of 鈥渟eparate but equal鈥� schooling, and Plyer v. Doe, which to an education.
Texas Gov. Greg said he hopes to 鈥渞esurrect鈥� Plyler during a recent appearance on a conservative talk show.
There鈥檚 currently no reason to think that either case is at imminent risk. Brown v. Board, unlike Roe, is 鈥渟uper precedent,鈥� Justice Amy Coney Barrett said . While Plyler doesn鈥檛 have that level of consensus, it also hasn鈥檛 been a longstanding conservative target.
鈥淚 hope it鈥檚 just much ado about nothing,鈥� Derek Black, an education law professor at the University of South Carolina, told . 鈥淏ut we鈥檝e certainly seen polarization on issues, so I obviously don鈥檛 rule out the possibility.鈥�
Jessica Blake is a summer reporting intern for the Chalkbeat national desk. Contact her at jblake@chalkbeat.org or on Twitter at .
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering public education.