New research from LeanIn.Org shows that a majority of women and men think companies should take action to protect abortion rights. Companies that don’t act risk losing future leaders: most employees under age 40, regardless of their political affiliation, want to work for a company that supports access to abortion.

These findings are from an online poll of 3,196 U.S. workers aged 18 and older, conducted by Lean In on Momentive’s SurveyMonkey Audience platform between July 5-7, 2022.

Key findings

A majority of women say the overturn of Roe v. Wade will hurt women’s careers.

• 76% of women are concerned that the overturn of Roe will negatively impact women’s ability to advance in the workforce. This sentiment is even stronger among certain groups of women—for example, 84% of women under 40 and 82% of women of color are concerned.

• 82% of women say that having control over whether and when they have a child is critical to pursuing their career goals.

Women—especially younger women—want to work for companies that support access to abortion.

Among working women under age 40:

• 81% say that supporting access to reproductive healthcare (including abortion) demonstrates an organization’s commitment to supporting and advancing women.

• 76% are more likely to want to work for a company that supports abortion access.

• 78% think their employer should take action to protect abortion access in response to the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe.

Abortion rights matter to men, too.

• 74% of working men under age 40 are more likely to want to work for a company that supports access to abortion, and 73% think their employer should take action to protect abortion access in response to the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe.

• 79% of all working men say that having control over whether and when they have a child is critical to pursuing their career goals.

If companies don’t protect employees’ right to choose, they risk losing future leaders.

• 34% of women and men under age 40 are considering switching jobs in light of the overturn of Roe, either to work for a company that offers more generous reproductive healthcare benefits, or to work for a company that publicly supports access to abortion.

• This number is even higher for more senior employees—among leaders and managers under age 40, 43% of women and 40% of men are considering switching jobs.

• Women and men of color are about twice as likely as white women and men to be considering switching jobs—indicating that a failure to protect abortion access could put companies’ DE&I efforts in serious jeopardy.

Across political affiliations, employees under 40 agree that access to abortion is a workplace issue.

Among employees under age 40:

• A majority of Republicans (63%), Democrats (84%), and Independents (77%) are more likely to work for a company that supports access to abortion.

• A majority of Republicans (68%), Democrats (86%), and Independents (74%) think their employer should take action to protect abortion access in response to the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe.

• More than a third of Republicans and Democrats (36% and 39%) and almost a third of Independents (31%) are considering switching jobs to work for a company that offers more generous reproductive healthcare benefits or publicly supports access to abortion.

Employees want their companies to take concrete steps to protect abortion access.

When asked what their employer should do in response to the Supreme Court decision, employees of all genders are most likely to list three actions:

• Add or increase financial support for employees who need to travel out of state to get an abortion

• Take steps to protect the privacy of employees who seek abortions and other reproductive healthcare

• Switch to or add a healthcare plan that provides more coverage for reproductive healthcare

Survey methodology