This is this week’s ForbesWomen newsletter, which every Thursday brings news about the world’s top female entrepreneurs, leaders and investors straight to your inbox. Click here to get on the newsletter list!

This week marks the 4th anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional right to an abortion and unleashing a wave of state-by-state abortion bans and restrictions. Today, 17 states have either a complete abortion ban or a ban on abortions after six weeks of gestation (effectively a total ban, given the four weeks it usually takes women to even know they’re pregnant), and a patchwork of other restrictions have rippled across the U.S., creating confusion for patients and medical providers alike.

While Dobbs did not serve as the start of abortion restrictions in the U.S. — a bevy of state-specific requirements already had been chipping away at reproductive healthcare access for the prior two decades —- it was, nonetheless, a landmark legal moment. And as sources have been sharing with us this week, it’s a moment that has produced clear ramifications for the economy and the healthcare system well beyond the halls of the obstetrics department.

Specifically, a new analysis from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research shows that abortion restrictions across the country have cost women earnings and job opportunities to the tune of $140 billion annually. “Four years on, my diagnosis is that the economic impacts are significant, and they are persistent,” Melissa Mahoney, an associate professor of economics at UNC-Asheville and one of the report's authors, told me during this Forbes Newsroom segment.

I also spoke with Dr. Sara Neill, a physician-researcher and the senior author on a study of the clinical effects of abortion bans that was published in JAMA Network Open this week. Dr. Neill’s research illustrates the ways that a ban on abortion can cause deviations from the normal standard of care, distrust of doctors and delays in treatment across all kinds of specialities. “I think the clearest example is the burden on our emergency medicine system,” Dr. Neill said. “We know that people are getting stuck in emergency rooms and not being able to be admitted to the hospital just due to system constraints, and it makes that even worse if you have to have a patient coming into the emergency room four times to get their miscarriage care versus one time [as it was pre-Dobbs].”

You can read more about Dr. Neill’s research here, and for some reflections from business leaders about why reproductive healthcare access is very much a business issue, I recommend this ForbesWomen story here.

Take care of yourselves,

Maggie McGrath

Exclusive Forbes List: Forbes’ Top Creators, 2026

The creator economy is no longer trying to break into show business—it IS show business. For the first time in the five-year history of the Top Creators list, the ranking of the 50 most powerful influencers collectively broke the billion-dollar mark, bringing in a total of $1.02 billion—a 20% jump from last year's $853 million haul and an 80% surge from the $570 million total earnings from the debut list in 2022. Click through here to see which creators cracked the top 50.

ICYMI: News Of The Week

First up, a story about the power of words: The Federal Reserve moved away from using the title of “chairman” in 2014, when Janet Yellen became the first woman to lead the institution and adopted the gender-neutral title “chair.” Jerome Powell continued the practice, but now, Kevin Warsh is moving in the opposite direction, returning the title to “chairman.” While it may seem like an inconsequential move, abundant research shows that the language we use impacts mental images, stereotypes and feelings of belonging. Using the title “chairman” automatically makes people think a man belongs in the position—and it creates another obstacle for women seeking the role.

Speaking of Forbes lists, this week also marked the release of our 2026 World’s Most Influential CMOs list, a ranking of the globe’s most effective marketers. The executives on this list—which include Netflix CMO Marian Lee, L’Oreal Groupe Chief Digital and Marketing Officer Asmita Dubey and Zoom CMO Kimberly Storin—have achieved something much harder than attracting attention. They have moved companies, categories, consumer decisions and cultures—sometimes quietly, sometimes with enormous public flair, but always with commercial consequence.

In this week’s episode of C-Suite Unscripted, ForbesWomen editor Maggie McGrath sat down with Christine de Wendel, the cofounder and U.S. CEO of sunday, an app that allows restaurant diners to pay their bills in seconds from their phones. Launched just five years ago, Sunday processes $5 billion in check volume annually and works with buzzy restaurants like Tao, Din Tai Fung, and more. De Wendel dished on how her entrepreneurial journey began with a well-timed Christmas card, why she requires all employees to work at least one restaurant shift, and why she thought it would be “easy” to build a billion-dollar business.

Olivia Rodrigo wears many hats — actor, singer, songwriter and newly, festival booker. Rodrigo, fresh off massive critical and commercial success for her new album you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, announced her own music festival, an all-women event called Daisy Chain Fields, scheduled for August 29 at the Great Park in Irvine, California.

In debt from a bachelorette? You’re not alone: A survey of 1,106 adults aged 18 to 44 who have attended a wedding in the past year or are planning to attend one in the next year showed that 38% of Gen Z and millennials who have been to a wedding in the last year have taken on debt in order to attend weddings and wedding-related events.

The Checklist

1. Hunt for frustration before it becomes a resignation. In fear of losing your top talent to a competitor? Here are the five warning signs your best employees might be eyeing the door, along with some tips on how to turn these signs into a retention strategy.

2. Don’t let your email habits ruin your reputation. One email may not define your career, but patterns do. Over time, your emails can make you look thoughtful, organized, credible, and promotable. They can also make you look careless, reactive, defensive, or difficult to work with. Here’s how to be the former, not latter.

3. Shut down. Human beings are not designed to operate at full capacity every day of the year. We need periods of intense effort followed by periods of recovery. Athletes understand this. Elite performers understand this. Yet in business, we often ignore one of the most important ingredients of sustained success: rest.

The Quiz

An unusually large asteroid will make a close approach to Earth in the coming days, but before you cue the dulcet tones of Steven Tyler and go all “Armageddon” on your weekend, it will pass at a safe distance—more than 1.5 million miles from Earth. This asteroid could be up to 5,250 feet in diameter, or about five Eiffel Towers. What’s the lower size threshold to be considered “potentially hazardous?”

1. 460 feet or larger
2. 720 feet or larger
3. 1,080 feet or larger
4. 2,500 feet or larger

Check your answer.

Liked what you read? Click here to get on the newsletter list!