In two weeks, the Supreme Court will hear a case that threatens the constitutional right to access safe and legal abortion . It would be a historic moment with a massive ripple effect if the court decided to turn its back on 50 years of precedent, after Roe v. Wade , the landmark Supreme Court ruling that protects the right to abortion.

The intense political battles over the case, called Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, and abortion writ large often overlook what the fall of Roe would actually mean for women and birthing people in the U.S.

And the impact runs much deeper than most people realize. Dr. Diana Greene Foster , author and head researcher of the Turnaway Study , has devoted her life to the human impact of abortion access. Published last year, the Turnaway Study followed 1,000 women over 10 years and analyzed the long-term impact of being able to access an abortion versus being denied an abortion.

They found that for women who were denied an abortion, there was an increase in poverty; a decrease in employment that lasts for years; a scaling back of aspirational plans; and years spent trying to raise a child without enough money to pay for food, housing, and transportation instead of pursuing other life goals, as Foster wrote in the book of the same name. (Foster noted that she made the mistake of not including genderqueer or non-binary people in her study when she initially began in 2007.)

The study also found that, contrary to frequent claims from anti-choice advocates, abortion does not harm womens mental health, and 95% of women who have abortions felt their decision was the right one for them. Women who received an abortion were much more likely (48%) than women who were denied an abortion (30%) to plan and achieve future goals. It is the women denied an abortion whose life trajectory often took a detour, writes Foster.

Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization is a 2018 Mississippi state law that attempts to ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The Mississippi law is in direct violation of Roe, which states that abortion procedures are legal up until viability, which is around 24 weeks.

The Supreme Court could oppose the Mississippi law, which means Roe is still the law of the land; or the court could uphold the state law, whether banning abortion outright or tinkering with the gestational limit, which effectively overturns Roe and reverts abortion laws back to the states. If the latter happens, there are already several states with constitutional amendments or trigger bans which will immediately outlaw abortion in those states.

A post-Roe world will mean a persons ability to access abortion heavily depends on which state they live in and if they have the economic means to travel to access the procedure.

A world in which Roe is not law of the land will be devastating for women and birthing people in Mississippi: Its 75 times more deadly to carry a pregnancy to term than to have an abortion in the Southern state. And thats disproportionately felt by Black women and by poor women in Mississippi.

If Roe v. Wade is overturned, people need to understand that if youre already suffering, taking something away does not make the suffering go away. It increases the suffering. And thats whats gonna happen here, Shannon Brewer, the clinic director at Jackson Womens Health organization, the last abortion clinic in the state, said during a press call earlier this week.

HuffPost spoke with Foster about the cost of being denied an abortion, and the very real consequences for women and birthing people in the U.S. if Roe falls in the wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health organization decision.

As someone whos studied the impacts of being denied an abortion, how are you feeling ahead of the upcoming Supreme Court case, Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization? The fate of Roe is really hanging in the balance here.

I just feel like its so political. So many people are viewing it through some kind of ideological lens. They have no idea the magnitude of impact for the people who are actually affected. Even lowering the gestational limit would mean tens of thousands of people would not be able to get abortions and that has long-term impact on a lot of people.

If the Supreme Court overturns Roe entirely and every state gets to decide its own legislation around abortion, not everyone will carry the pregnancy to term. Some people will travel and some people will order pills online, but I think whats overlooked is that many people will be forced to carry pregnancies to term. We need to acknowledge that that comes with substantial harm.

It does feel like such a political conversation. Thats why I was so excited to talk to you because your research really gets at the impacts of abortion access and how it effects every day peoples lives.

Its covered as a political issue: What is legal precedent? What is one political side per se versus another? How can we, who have ideological conflict, compromise on this issue? As if its all so abstract. What we need to be talking about is how it impacts people.

In the case that Roe is effectively overturned and power is reverted back to the states, how do you think that will impact women and birthing people in the country?

It will vastly disproportionately hurt very young women and very poor women. Because if abortion is banned in a state, the people who wont be able to travel or wont have the resources or knowledge to order pills online are people who are poor or very young. When I say very young I mean teenagers, who already are at a disadvantage because theyre often later to discover theyre pregnant, and that further narrows their options about where they can go and what they can do.

For very privileged people, it will be an inconvenience, theyll simply have to travel. Dont get me wrong, it could be extremely unpleasant to have to travel hundreds of miles and pay a lot of money, but at least theyll have some say over what happens with their pregnancy and their body, but it wont be that way for poor people and for young people.