U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday said that eliminating women's access to abortions would have "very damaging effects" on the U.S. economy, keeping some women from completing their educations, reducing lifetime earnings potential and keeping some out of the workforce.

Yellen said in testimony to the Senate Banking Committee that research has shown that denying women access to abortions increases their odds of living in poverty or on public assistance.

"I believe that eliminating the rights of women to make decisions about women, whether to have children would have very damaging effects on the economy and would set women back decades," Yellen said in answer to a question on the topic, a week after the leak of a draft Supreme Court decision that would strike down a constitutional right to abortion.