We debated if we should call this episode “Economics for Dummies” or “the Abortion Multiverse” but we landed on the moon. Sort of. One of the most salient points from our discussion with economist Caitlin Myers, PhD from Middlebury, was this: For some people who need to travel for abortion, it is impossible to travel 100 miles for care. You might as well have to travel to the moon.
That is how impossible it is for some folks to receive care. We talk about what some of those barriers are for people and how the birth rate in ban states is rising. And even more surprisingly is that the number of abortions nationwide is INCREASING. We talk about why that might be the case.
Photo by Mike Petrucci on Unsplash
This week’s episode might be my new favorite. One of the things I love when talking to all these brilliant experts is how they can make something complicated become understandable. My economics knowledge is limited. Before we had the discussion with Caitlin, I don’t think I could have even defined what economics is. She explained that economics the social science that studies how people and societies allocate scarce resources to produce, distribute, and consume goods and services to satisfy their unlimited wants. You can listen to our conversation here:
Caitlin researches how policy impacts health and specifically how abortion restrictions impact health. She has created an impressive dashboard which shows how far people have to travel for abortion care and she studies what happens to people when care is cut off.
You can find her dashboard here. Play around with it and you can see what happens to the distance folks need to travel over time. It’s a VERY COOL map!
In the episode we also talk about how unethical abortion bans are and how the natural experiment of Dobb’s cutting off care is turning out to be a cruel way to make the most vulnerable members of our society suffer more. Listen and let us know what you think! Take a moment to leave a review if you’re enjoying the show.
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