Why is the US rolling back this high-return global investment?

By Seema Jalan

In a lot of ways, I have Margaret Sanger to thank for my career success.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the birth control she championed became legal, transforming women’s lives and America’s economy.

As women just like me had increased access to contraception, they were able to control and delay childbirth and invest in their education and careers, increasing their earning power and growing the national economy. In fact, one-third of the wage gains American women have made since the 1960s are a result of access to birth control.

In many so-called “Asian Tiger” economies — including Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore — rapid economic growth in the 1960s and 1970s was also tied to investments in voluntary family planning, which allowed the countries’ youth to plan their families, invest in their education and contribute to the labor force.

Read more from my op-ed on CNN here.