In the aftermath of Roe v. Wade’s fall, everyone is looking for answers about how to fight back. But too few people are proposing that the answer, or part of it, might be found in the labor movement. It would be wrong to overlook the labor movement’s utility in this fight, or the power of a political movement linking workers’ rights with reproductive freedom. The fight for legal, free abortion on demand would be stronger if it broke out of the weak politics of individual “choice” and “privacy” toward a unionist and democratic vision of reproductive freedom.

There is a direct relationship between abortion rights and workers’ rights. Outlawing abortion severely impacts the economic freedom of women: if a person can’t choose whether, when, and under what conditions they become pregnant, they lose control over their economic and working fate.

Even with the right to abortion in place, pregnant workers face an uphill battle. Pregnancy and its aftermath are a physically grueling process that temporarily or permanently impedes someone’s ability to fully participate in the workforce. At the federal level, the United States does not guarantee any paid parental leave. Federal law guarantees new parents only six weeks of unpaid time off, and not all workers qualify. Absent a union contract, most employers only offer the minimum unpaid leave required by federal law — and most workers can’t afford that many missed paychecks.