7Aug22: Will antiabortion laws cause a brain drain?

Will antiabortion laws cause a brain drain?

Let's ignore the strong opinions many of us have about abortion itself and discuss the possible effects of antiabortion laws on physicians. These laws make it more difficult for physicians to treat patients as we were trained to do and may gag us from even talking about abortion. This affects all physicians who care for pregnant women, not just ob-gyns because any treatment could potentially harm the unborn baby and ultimately cause a criminal prosecution. As a result, some physicians may not want to practice in these states:

"To talk to approximately 20 candidates that state they would decline to practice in those restrictive states, that is certainly a trend we are seeing. . . It is certainly going to impact things moving forward.” Tom Florence, president of Merritt Hawkins, a physician recruiting company, see https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/06/abortion-maternity-health-obgyn/.

If physicians avoid antiabortion states, then so may women in general and businesses:

"After the (Indiana) legislation was signed into law, Eli Lilly, the pharmaceutical giant and one of the state’s largest employers, warned that such laws would hurt its employee recruiting efforts and said the company would look elsewhere for its expansion plans."

“We are concerned that this law will hinder Lilly’s — and Indiana’s — ability to attract diverse scientific engineering and business talent from around the world,” the company said in a statement issued Saturday. “Given this new law, we will be forced to plan for more employment growth outside our home state.” see
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/06/indiana-abortion-law/, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/06/business/indiana-companies-abortion.html

What do you think? If you are starting a career or thinking of moving, would the presence of antiabortion laws make you more or less likely to consider living in a state?