Banning abortions ‘bad for US economy’

OVERTURNING the right of women to have an abortion would have a “very damaging” impact on America’s economy, the US treasury secretary has said.

Janet Yellen said it would stop some women from completing their education, reduce lifetime earnings potential and push more children into poverty.

Ms Yellen, giving evidence to the Senate banking committee, said: “I believe that eliminating the right of women to make decisions about when and whether to have children would have very damaging effects on the economy and set women back decades.”

Last week, a leaked draft ruling showed the Supreme Court is poised to overturn the 1973 Roe v Wade decision, which legalised abortion across the US.

It would mean individual states being allowed to make their own laws.

Ms Yellen added: “In many cases, abortions are of teenage women, particularly low-income and often black, who aren’t in a position to be able to care for children, have unexpected pregnancies, and it deprives them of the ability often to continue their education to later participate in the workforce.”

Tim Scott, a black Republican senator from South Carolina, said Ms Yellen was “callous” to frame the issue of abortion in the context of “labour force participation”.