Texas’ record levels of migration and historic job growth point to an economy firing on all cylinders. But the state could do even better and could be sacrificing billions in lost opportunities because of its abortion ban, according to an amicus brief signed by 51 individuals and businesses, including a half-dozen real estate firms.
The business case against state reproductive laws comes in favor of the plaintiffs in Zurawski v. Texas, a case decided by the Texas Supreme Court. The brief said the ban deters companies and workers from coming to the state, increasing insurance costs for dozens of companies and creating barriers to attracting new businesses, visitors and events.
As evidence, the brief cited a study by the Women’s Policy Research Institute that found Texas’ restrictions could cost the state nearly $15 billion a year by reducing labor force participation and income levels, and increasing turnover and absenteeism among women aged 15 to 44.
The brief outlines eight examples of business people who have either left the state or refused to relocate there as a direct result of the ban, and lists 65 national companies that have gone above and beyond, offering benefits and policies covering travel expenses for employees. reproductive care seekers, including Starbucks, Microsoft, Walmart and Tesla.
“When women and families do not have access to critical and necessary health care; when they are afraid to travel to or reside in Texas; when companies are pushed out because they can’t hire the best talent — they will leave,” the brief said.
The brief also claims the ban affects large conferences and events, citing the Society of Women Engineers, among other examples. The organization announced it will no longer hold events in Texas after causing significant backlash when it held its 2022 conference in Houston.
“Even if you think abortion is wrong, the way the laws are drafted in Texas creates an impact on business,” said Emily Harbison, a partner at Reed Smith and co-author of the amicus brief. “Texas is losing money.”
Austin-based female-focused dating app Bumble was the first to sign the brief. The company was followed by 50 others, including six hospitality and property management companies, including Goodnight Hospitality, Storable and Zilker Properties.
However, no independent study has yet been conducted to measure the loss, and the negative effects have not been borne out by economic data, said site selection expert John Boyd, CEO of The Boyd Co. Bisnow.
“We don’t see abortion really moving the needle on corporate location decisions,” he said.
Over the past two years, most of Texas’ population growth has come from people moving from other states. Texas grew its workforce by 3 percent last year, adding more than 407,000 jobs, more than any other state, according to Gov. Greg Abbott’s office.
Texas Capitol in Austin
But there are individuals and companies who would never consider Texas because of its political climate, Boyd said. These invisible losses, known as opportunity costs, cannot be fully quantified, but Boyd pointed to North Carolina’s highly controversial bathroom bill, which in 2016 led to a number of high-profile departures and wreaked havoc on the state’s economy, as a possible example about what could happen in Texas.
Texas has seen a significant drop in corporate relocations, to just 16 last year after jumping to 79 in 2021, and some of those decisions may have been partly political in nature, Boyd said.
“It’s impossible to ever know the number of possible site selection projects or relocations, expansions, conventions or concerts that eliminated North Carolina out of the gate because of the bathroom bill,” he said. “It’s the same with abortion. While the data doesn’t indicate an economic downturn or slowdown in migration or relocations in Texas, it’s really impossible to know.
Studies conducted since Roe v. Wade were overturned show that more people are considering access to reproductive care when choosing where to live. More than half of U.S. home buyers and sellers said in a 2022 Redfin survey that they want to live in a state where abortion is legal, a 40 percent increase from 2021.
Meanwhile, 51 percent of women ages 18-54 have considered moving from Texas, according to a 2023 survey by Texas 2036. Thirteen percent of respondents said political or social issues were behind their desire to move.
Peach Reynolds, one of the amicus brief signatories and co-owner of Austin-based Zilker Properties, said he helped a couple last fall who were “fed up” with the state’s political climate sell their home and move to Cleveland .
The transaction resulted in a commission for Reynolds, but if homeowners are fleeing the market, the overall effect on his business is negative.
“They took their money and moved elsewhere,” he said.
Yet this trend has not caught on in a measurable way to date. And Texas’ appeal as a cheap place to do business has so far proved more compelling than political factors.
“A lot of sophisticated business people look at it all this way: The fundamentals of doing business in Texas trump a lot of these divisive political issues that are best dealt with in other ways,” Boyd said.
Zurawski v. Texas was brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of 20 former patients who claimed they were denied medically necessary abortions because their doctors feared legal retribution. Two doctors are also plaintiffs in the case.
The center filed a similar lawsuit on behalf of Kate Cox, a Dallas mother of two who was told at 20 weeks pregnant that her fetus had a rare and deadly genetic disorder. Cox had hoped to access an abortion in Texas, but ended up having to leave the state in December to terminate the life-threatening pregnancy.
