“Choice and self-determination are at the foundation of why we formed our union seventy-five years ago,” said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA)-CWA, following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Association ruling.

It was once standard for airlines to restrict flight attendant jobs to a particular type of person: “white, single, childless women under age thirty-two who met specific height, weight, and male-defined appearance standards,” as Nelson describes it. “Even if you met those “standards,” getting pregnant, having a baby, choosing to marry or gaining a few pounds meant giving up your job and handing in your wings.” Unionized flight attendants fought against such control, making a worker’s lifestyle and appearance her business, rather than that of her employer.

With Dobbs, one of workers’ critical life choices is now more closely tied to their employer. The ruling effectively leaves the matter of abortion up to states, some of which had trigger laws in place anticipating the ruling and others of which are quickly moving to similarly ban legal abortion. Such unevenness across states has clear implications for workers.