Giving Compass' Take:

• Lisa Hammann points out that nearly nine out of 10 women surveyed believe that the ability to control when and if to have children is critical to their careers and this impacts businesses’ bottom lines.

• Comprehensive benefits are a health issue and a business issue. How are policymakers fighting for access to comprehensive reproductive health care? 

• Learn how to best support reproductive rights and justice. 

Women now make up more than half of the U.S. workforce, from the frontline to the C-suite, and they care about having access to reproductive healthcare, including access to abortion. In fact, more than 80% of women expect their employers to provide this type of insurance, and many will not move for a job to a state where reproductive health services are restricted.

There is no question that comprehensive reproductive health benefits are clearly a business issue. Attraction and retention of talent–a known business driver–is connected to the availability of this coverage, as found in our new report: Hidden Value: The Business Case for Reproductive Health.

This isn’t someone else’s issue, this is everyone’s issue. And there is no question that it influences the career paths women take. As many as 99% of all women under the age of 45 have used contraception, and one in four women will have had an abortion. Nearly nine out of 10 women surveyed believe that the ability to control when and if to have children is critical to their careers. As business leaders, we need to consider this in our policies because it impacts our bottom line.

A majority of the women we surveyed told us that they would be discouraged from applying for a job in a state that had tried to restrict abortion, and over half of the men between the ages of 18 and 44 said the same. Furthermore, 56% of women said that they would not even consider applying to a job in a state where abortion had been banned. Given today’s incredibly low unemployment rates, this is a talent attraction issue. As executives, we must consider where and how we do business to attract the best of the best.

Read the full article about reproductive health by Lisa Hammann at Fast Company.