Is just under two hours. Senator whitehouse good morning. I call this committee to order. We have multiple committees on which we serve in the senate and from time to time its important to go check in at another committee to get in the queue properly and so senator grassley will be along. Ill make my opening statement, yield to him and then ill introduce the first three witnesses. Senator grassley will introduce a witness, senator lee will introduce a witness and then well proceed. We are here today to discuss womens rights, their right to bodily autonomy. Their right to set the course of their own life. And their right to economic freedom. I hear often that the Budget Committee should only be concerned with debt and deficits but any serious conversation about debt and deficits must also analyze threats to Economic Growth and stability. Debt and deficits do not occur in a vacuum. Welcome. The result from the they result from the fiscal decisions that we make and from what we do that strengthens or that weakens our economy. Reproductive rights, it turns out, are intrinsically tied to eeconomic opportunity. Reproductive justice is Economic Justice. Restricting one, restricts the other. As professor myers, the leading economist in this space will testify today, we can measure the economic harms from dismantling roe v. Wade, especially in already marginalized communities. The Dobbs Decision triggered an immediate crisis for millions of women as antiquated state bans snapped back into place, and some states implemented new restrictions on reproductive freedom. Our witnesses, Hallie Phillips and dr. Spun, will explain how the draconian state laws put patients, their families and physicians into heartbreaking situations. About 25 million women of reproductive age live in states with severe restrictions on abortion. Most in states that failed to expand medicaid and already had higher rates of maternal death. Black women are disproportionately affected as many li in Southern States with the worst reinstructive policies, with existing structural barriers to care, and with alreadyhigh rates of pregnancy related complication and death. Dr. S, too doctors, too, lose their freedom to Practice Medicine as they are trained, delivering patientcentered, evidencebased care. I hear from rhode island ob gyns about their colleagues in other states being put in impossible positions. With the lives of women and babies but in jeopardy. For a great many reasons, often deeply personal and harrowing, one in four women seek an abortion before age 45. One in four. That freedom to decide if and when to have a child affects a womans life trajectory and her familys Financial Security. At the pivotal as the pivotal turn away study found, women who were forced to carry a pregnancy to term were four times more likely to li in poverty. The reverse holds true too. Reproductive freedom and choice including abortions and contraception lowered Maternal Mortality, increases womens earnings, increases the probably that women attend college, and boosts local economists. Local economies. Freedom turns out to have economic value. In planned parenthood v. Casey, these economic values were part of he courts holding. The court said, the ability of women to participate equally in the economic and social life of the nation have been facilitated by their ability to control their reproductive lives. Economists and researchers have since quantified the damage of state abortion restrictions to local and state economies. And the correlation is easy. The more extreme a states restrictions, the more its economy suffers. A new study estimates that state abortion restrictions cost the National Economy on average 173 billion per year. Inover turning roe and casey, a small rightwing majority of a captured Supreme Court inserted the government into the personal life decisions of millions of women. Removing that freedom, never minding those consequences. This is a court with members on a mission. Next may be the ability to take mifepr sirvetion tone a 15eu6 and effective medication. Next could come the right to take contraception. Even in vote roe fertilization is under the gun. If reelected, trump could abuse executive power to remove mifepristone from markets or try to prevent abortion medications or contraceptives from going through the federal mail. The republican effort to ban mail order medication could cause even larger economic damage than dobbs. Generations of women fought for the freedom to make their own personal decisions, they fought and they won. And their victory brought economic gains in which we all share. But now, extremists are trying to to undo it all, leaving young women and girls in america with fewer rights than their grandmothers. Women and girls have lives worth respecting and protecting and no one should be forced to carry a pregnancy to term against their will. Stripping women of this freedom casts a long shadow over their lives, and over their families lives, and it costs a long shadow over our economy as well. Congress should safeguard access to abortion and contraception and codify roe into law. This is something women should decide, its just not the governments business. I will now turn it over to Ranking Member grassley. Senator grassley good morning, mr. Chairman. Im sorry i missed the last three hearings because i couldnt be here. Senator whitehouse its great to have you back, to be healthy enough to be back and participate in hearings again. Senator grassley we are tackling a very serious topic this morning. Abortion above all. Is a moral and legal issue. Abortion is not an issue that lends itself to being looked at solely through an economic lens. After all, life is priceless. Theres a reason this committee historically hasnt delved into this issue. Its not an issue easily distilled down to dollars and cents. Typical of budget issues that this committee normally works on. In fact, it is rather dehumanizing. The chinese communists are the best example of this, when they instituted the one child policy. Targeting female babies to external nation. And they did this thinking it would help their economy. But look what happened. Now the chinese realize its backfiring and hurting the economy. I think right now we just saw statistics, there are no longer theyre no longer the largest population country in the world, being supplanted by india. Look at western nations like our own. Were also realizing we need more people to sustain the economy, and protect social security. I guess thats one reason that were the most immigrant welcoming nation by taking one Million People legally every year into our country. So yes, having and raising children has costs. But so does abortion on demand and the culture that lacks respect for life. That said, here we are. Im prolife. Profamily. Prowoman. These views are not in conflict. Were the alternatives to abortion where the alternatives to abortion exist in all but the rarest circumstances. Numerous programs at the federal, state and local levels are available to help women, children, and families in need. To better assist families, congress should focus on reforms that increase coordination between all the federal programs we have. Congress should simplify access to these programs. It should reduce duplications, promote work, or education. And eliminate marriage penalties in our tax laws. For years, ive been championing supporting moms and kids. Ive worked to support, improve our adoption and foster care systems. Ive long been a strong supporter of taxes and laws to promote adoption and reduce Financial Burdens associated with adopting a child. As thenchairman of the tax writing finance committee, now 20 years ago, i helped shepherd the bipartisan tax relief package that included muchneeded updates on the adoption tax credit. Additionally im a member of the Congressional Coalition on adoption and founder and cochair of the Senate Caucus on foster youth and have worked for years to improve policies and support for those who open their hearts and homes to children in need. Im also an advocate of the maternal infant and Early ChildhoodHome Visiting program, which serves many mothers and children across iowa and other states. Its critical we support the most vulnerable in our society and this program has been a successful tool to improve though life of atrisk families. This congress ive introduced the bipartisan healthy moms and babies act with senator maggie hasan. The bill is a culmination of my work as finance Committee Chairman where i solicit ideas from senators and stake holders including Iowa Health Care providers on ways to improve maternal childcare. The public is debate manage abortion issues following the Supreme CourtDobbs Decision. Today this committee will hear from two witnesses who can tell us about the types of programs supporting pregnant women and families. We all will also hear how folks on our local communities stand up by their neighbors to let them know that they arent alone and coco and do have options. Thats the type of message everyone can get behind. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I thank the witnesses, all of our witnesses, for appearing today. Senator whitehouse thank you, senator grassley, and again, welcome back. Our first witness today, professor Caitlyn Myers of middleberry college. Shes an applied microeconomist who uses statistical methodologies to measure the causal effects of reproductive policies on demographic, health, and economic outcomes. Her work has been published in leading journals in economics and public policy. She maintains and distributes data on Abortion Access to researchers and the public through the Abortion Access dashboard and open science framework. Professor myers, thank you for being here. Next well hear from dr. Lela zahadi spung, a Board Certified ob gyn and maternal fetal medicine fa six in colorado. She received her bachelors degree in biology and psychologist from the university of georgia and medical degree from emery university. She serves as a member of the smfm Reproductive Health committee and member of the Education Committee through the society for Family Planning. Welcome. Then well hear from mrs. Allie fail lips. Shes a lifelong tennessean, a mother, and an activist. She shared her heartbreaking abortion story online and Drew International attention. Turning her pain into passion shes dead kayed her time to speaking out and fighting back. Mrs. Phillips, we appreciate you very much taking the time to join us. I will now turn to senator lee and Ranking Member grassley to introduce their witnesses. Senator grassley i have the privilege of introducing an iowan from story county, iowa. Ms. Tamara call. M. S. N. And r. N. Shes a shes executive director of a Medical Clinic in ames, iowa. Its a fully licensed Community Care clinic that provides professional medical Services Including consultations, well women care, pregnancy testing, ultrasound, Health Education referrals. Obira employees board sert did certified ob gyn physicians, registered nurses, nurse paradecisioners, medical assistants and support staff. She holds a bachelors degree in nursing and masters degree in Public Health nursing from the university of kansas. Im also pleased to welcome ms. Calls daughter to our hearing as well. Thank you both for being here. Senator lee thank you, mr. Chairman, Ranking Member grassley. Its an honor and privilege to introduce my friend leslie ford as one of our witnesses today. Leslie is an adjunct fellow at the American EnterpriseInstitutes Center for opportunity and social mobility. And shes also the president of an entity called ford policy solutions. And member of the state of virginias department of social Services State board of social services which is authorized to adopt and recommend policy solutions on various social programs within the commonwealth of virginia. Shes personally served in the white house as a domestic policy adviser. And a special assistant to the president from 2018 to 2020 working on reforms to social safety net programs and also the administrations antipoverty agenda. But most importantly, it is a great opportunity for me to endorse to introduce her, and endorse her, because shes a former member of my staff. Shes served as policy adviser in my office where she oversaw the policy portfolio on Health Education, labor and pensions and work on the development of a whole lot of health and social safety policy bills and amendments, helped put together Ground Breaking legislation in a number of areas including education reform, welfare reform, just to name a few. Shes of course moved on and become a thought leader and someone who has contributed to meaningful and prudent welfare reforms and antipoverty measures. I look forward to hearing from all our witnesses, but especially ms. Fords. Senator whitehouse thank you very much. Professor myers, please proceed. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. Im the john g. Mccullough professor of economics. I study the effects of contraception and abortion on economics. Im not here as an activist. Im presenting facts on the ways in which reproductive policy is economic policy. Women make up half the of the labor force. Their introduction into the work force has boosted the economy by 40 . The decision of whether or when to become a mother is the single largest economic decision of their life. Men and womens earnings track mostly right up through parenthood. But then there is a gap. Even after the kids grow up and leave home. It is exacerbated by the lack of paid family leave and high cost of child care. Of course none of this implies that women, men and society dont benefit greatly from children. Im a mother of four. And for a time in my life i was the widowed single mother of preschool aged children. I have no doubt motherhood reduced my own economic productivity. Im also sure its entirely worth it for me and a decision id make again. But thats the point. The tradeoffs and decisions about whether and when to become a parent are inherently personal and closely tied to our economic lives. And even the best laid plans of mice and men and lets add women can go awry. Abortion is a common Reproductive Health care need. Before dobbs, nearly one million pregnancies ebbed in abortion each year. Thats about 20 of all estimated pregnancies. At that rate, a quarter of women will obtain an abortion in their lifetime and when they do, women are often in precarious and vulnerable situations. Most are young mothers. Nearly three quarters are lowincome. More than half report a disruptive life event like loss of a job or housing instability. The most frequent reason women cite for seeking an abortion relate to their finances, aspirations and ability to care for other children. This brings me to a key point. Access to contraception and abortion empowers women to plan their economic futures. Expansions in reproductive autonomy have gone hand in hand with womens economic progress. The enter ducks of the Birth Control pill in 1960 followed by the legalization of abortion in the early 1970s accompanied a period of social and economic change marked by women gaining greater education, strengthening attachments to the labor pors, entering new occupations and increasing their earnings. We all know that correlation isnt necessarily causation but in this case it is. Ample evidence from multiple Research Teams uses tools that isolate and measure the effects of reproductive autonomy. The legalization of abortion rewrote womens lives. It reduced teen motherhood by one third and reduced teen marriages by one fifth. It reduced the Maternal Mortality of black women by 30 to 50 . It allowed women to compete their education and increase their earnings. And in doing so it improved the lives of children, reducing the numbers living in poverty and numbers experiencing abuse or neglect. As they grew into adulthood these children themselves had higher rates of college graijuation, lower rates of single parenthood. Its notas though the salience of Abortion Access has gone away. One study finds as a result of being denied a wanted abortion, women experience a 78 increase in past due debts and a 71 increase in negative credit reporting. States enacting abortion bans have affected a quarter of women. The arch affected woman faces a journey of more than 300 miles one way. If any of my kids needed health care 300 miles away id have them there tomorrow but not everyone is in such a privileged position. I know many people coming up with the money, child care and multiple days off work is just not possible. You dont need to rely on anecdotes. The data tell us that nearly a quarter of people in ban states seeking abortions do not find a way to obtain one. This is especially true for young people and people of color. And even those who can make the trip, poims have been restricted. The first set of bans have ruled this 20,000 births that would not have occurred absent state bans. These children were likely born into some of the poorest and most economically Fragile Families many of which contain other childrens as well. Right now d