LA TimesBy Michael HiltzikJan. 29, 2025It wasn’t a stretch to predict that the strict abortion bans in states such as Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas would have demographic effects — driving residents out of those states and reducing migration from abortion-protective states.New research has validated that prediction and put meat on its bones. Most notably, economists at Georgia Tech reported in a paper published this month that by mid-2023, the 13 states with total bans had suffered a combined net loss of an estimated 36,000 residents per quarter, or more than 144,000 per year.Over two years, that amounts to a net loss of more than one-third of a percent of the combined population of about 80 million in the 13 states with abortion bans.State abortion policies alter the relative attractiveness of locations and the geographic distribution of human capital.— Dench et al
Stop for a second and think like a college student looking for a job after college... where do you want go? To a state that looks over your shoulder telling you when to have a family whether you want children or no? To a state where it tells you whom to love? To a state that looks over your shoulder? To a state that is promoting religion?
“It should concern them in terms of the population that will be available to work in their states over time,” Georgia Tech economist Daniel L. Dench, a co-author of the paper, told me.
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This was a blinkered view of reproductive healthcare rights, however. It has since become evident that strict antiabortion laws don’t only affect women seeking elective abortions, but those experiencing pregnancy-related emergencies who are denied the full panoply of medical treatments, turning even routine complications into life-threatening conditions.
To a state where the state steps between your doctor and you? Time wrote...
In a new tranche of research released Thursday from Gallup and the Lumina Foundation, almost three-quarters of college students told pollsters that laws governing reproductive health factored into their decision of whether to stay enrolled in their current campus or leave. While Democrats have the strongest interest in abortion rights, a clear 62% of Republicans also said they play a factor in picking a university. Among all college students, the support for states that have greater access to abortion is by an overwhelming 4-to-1 margin, including two-thirds of Republicans who said they prefer states with less restrictive abortion laws. It’s also a pronounced winner among women (86%) and men (74%) alike.The survey of about 6,000 current college students and 6,000 college-age adults is among the first hard pieces of evidence of the second-order effects of last year’s Dobbs decision that reversed a half-century of national legal access to abortion rights. Dobbs sent the question of abortion back to state legislatures, and 13 states have all-but-outlawed the medical procedure. Five other states have bans starting as soon as six weeks of gestation, and the federal courts are considering competing cases dealing with abortion medication.
Consider that most college stay in the state where they graduated, then there are the medical students, NBC News wrote this a couple of years ago,
Medical students say strict abortion laws are driving them away from pursuing careers as doctors in states where the procedure is banned.The finding comes from a survey of third- and fourth-year medical students, conducted from August through October of last year — just after the June 2022 Supreme Court Dobbs decision that overturned Roe V. Wade, which for nearly 50 years granted the right to an abortion across the U.S.
They haven't noticed yet because they can't be distracted from their mission from god!
In an article in the 19th News,
New research suggests that states could see huge economic implications.By Shefali LuthraJanuary 9, 2025Tens of thousands of young people — single people, in particular — have left states with near-total abortion bans.A new paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a nonprofit economic research organization, estimated population changes by analyzing address-change data collected by the United States Postal Service. It found that since the 2022 fall of Roe v. Wade, the states with near-total abortion bans — 13 at the time of the analysis — appear to have lost 36,000 people per quarter. Single-person households, which typically skew younger, were more likely to move out of states with bans.“Our results show that reproductive rights policies can significantly affect where people choose to live,” the researchers wrote.[...]The data also suggested that states with perceived “abortion-hostile” policies — a term the researchers used to classify states that had enacted bans that were blocked by courts, such as Ohio and Utah; those with strict bans, such as Florida and Georgia, which have six-week bans, and Arizona, which had a 15-week ban; and Pennsylvania, which is listed as hostile by the Center for Reproductive Rights, a legal advocacy organization — also saw a population loss.The loss of young people has particular implications for a state’s economic trajectory.States with abortion bans may face challenges in attracting and retaining workers, especially younger workers who represent future economic potential,” the paper said. “These population flows and demographic shifts could affect a wide range of economic factors from tax bases to housing markets to the availability of workers in key industries.”
The brain hasn't registered yet on the long term harm that they are doing. But abortion isn't the only thing motivating them. In 2023 NBC News reported...
Interviews with students, parents and college counselors suggest LGBTQ young people are striking colleges in states where such legislation is being pushed. Some students worry about having access to hormone therapy while away at school, some want to attend schools with all-gender housing options, and others fear hostile rhetoric puts them at a heightened risk of physical violence.Advocates say a shift in college applications from LGBTQ students could lead to diminished diversity at colleges, where part of the learning experience is encountering people of different backgrounds. Others, like Sarah Eckhardt, a Democratic state senator from Texas, also caution that legislation targeting LGBTQ rights could stifle academic research and harm the state economy.
In another article UCLA Williams Institute writes about the brain drain!
Anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) laws have negatively impacted the teaching, research, and health of LGBTQ+ college faculty, according to a new study by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law.As a result of anti-DEI laws, about half of the LGBTQ+ faculty surveyed (48%) have explored moving to another state, and 20% have actively taken steps to do so. One-third (36%) have considered leaving academia altogether.Nine states have passed anti-DEI legislation related to higher education, and many others are considering similar legislation.[...]Many faculty reported that anti-DEI laws have negatively impacted what they teach, how they interact with students, their research on LGBTQ+-related issues, and how out they are on campus and in their communities. More than one in ten faculty surveyed have faced requests for their DEI-related activities from campus administrators (14%), course enrollment declines (12%), and student threats to report them for violating anti-DEI laws (10%).Nearly three-quarters (74%) of the LGBTQ+ faculty said the current environment has taken a toll on their mental health, and over one-quarter (27%) said it has affected their physical health.
Click, bang!
What a hang
As much as I like to see the exodus I am concerned that abortion rights and what the Republicans call DEI will further divide the country. That all that will be left in the conservative states are Bible thumping racist anti-LGBTQ+ people.
It will be interesting to see if this population shift to blue states ultimately has a bearing on the makeup of the US House of Representatives. More people in Blue states equals more Blue congresspersons.
ReplyDeleteI recall a sign that stood at the border between two counties in a very red state. The sign said, “Commies and Pinkos Keep Out”. Since 1970, that very red county has lost more than 50% of its population. Lots of factors came into play, but that hostility to others has certainly not helped.
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