Who Benefits? Employer Subsidization of Reproductive Healthcare and Implications for Reproductive Justice

Annie McGrew and Yana Rodgers

Papers from arXiv.org

Abstract: With the reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022, many U.S. employers announced they would reimburse employees for abortion-related travel expenses. This action complements increasingly common employer policies subsidizing employee access to assisted reproductive technologies such as in-vitro fertilization and egg freezing. This article reflects on why employers offer these benefits and whether they enhance or undermine reproductive justice. From the employer's perspective, abortion and assisted reproductive technologies help women to plan childbearing around the demands of their jobs. Both are associated with delayed childbirth and reduced fertility, which lower the costs of motherhood to employers. However, firm subsidization of these services does not further reproductive justice because it reifies structures which incentivize women to delay childbirth and reduce fertility, and it reinforces economic and reproductive inequalities. We conclude by questioning whether reproductive justice is possible without transforming the economy so that it prioritizes care over profits.

Date: 2026-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-mac
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Published in Feminist Economics 31 (1), March 2025, 53-78

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