CWCC Statement on Roe vs. Wade

We are all entitled to human rights, including the right to make choices.

Last week’s Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, upending 50 years of precedent, has wide-ranging repercussions for a woman’s ability to choose how to take care of themselves. This decision impacts the health and rights of employees across the nation.

As an organization whose mission is to provide women opportunities that better our community and economy and help women grow their businesses and careers, allowing women to have autonomy over their bodies and futures is fundamental to achieving this mission.

From an economic perspective, this will hurt businesses.

According to the American Journal of Public Health, women who are unable to access an abortion are three times more likely to leave the workforce compared to women who are able to access an abortion. This compounds and exacerbates challenges women have increasingly been facing during the Great Resignation: pay inequities, the motherhood penalty, lack of affordable child care and more, all of which disproportionately impact women of color and lower-income women.

Access to comprehensive reproductive health care impacts a company’s bottom line and the corporate workforce, in addition to the women who no longer have a say over their own health care. Ensuring women retain autonomy over their bodies is paramount to achieving our mission as the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce and the Colorado Women’s Chamber Foundation.