State Abortion Rates: The Impact of Policies, Providers, Politics, Demographics, and Economic Environment

Blank, Rebecca M.; George, Cherian; London, Rebecca A.

doi:10.3386/w4853

Cited by 78 publications

(129 citation statements)

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“…In the RAND Health Insurance Experiment conducted during the 1980s, women randomly assigned to receive free medical care for three to five years had 29% more births than women assigned to cost-sharing medical plans (Leibowitz 1990). This finding is not clear evidence of increased fertility, however, because the participants knew that the experiment would only run were found to be negatively associated with abortion rates (e.g., Blank, George and London 1996;Haas-Wilson 1993).…”

mentioning

confidence: 55%

The effect of Medicaid eligibility expansions on fertility

Zavodny

Bitler

2010

Social Science & Medicine

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CONTEXT: Pregnant women and children's eligibility for Medicaid was expanded dramatically during the 1980s and early 1990s. By lowering pregnancy and child health care costs, the Medicaid expansions may have increased fertility, leading to changes in birth and abortion rates. METHODS:State-level natality and abortion data from 1982 to 1996 are used to estimate whether birth and abortion rates are related to the extent of states' Medicaid eligibility expansions and the fraction of women eligible for Medicaid, controlling for economic and demographic factors. Birth rates by race, marital status and education are examined as well as overall birth and abortion rates. RESULTS:The Medicaid expansions are not significantly associated with a change in overall birth rates or abortion rates. Some results suggest a positive effect on birth rates among white women who have not completed high school. Restrictions on Medicaid funding of abortions decrease abortion rates and increase birth rates. CONCLUSIONS:There is little evidence that expansions in public health insurance eligibility have sizable effects on women's fertility.

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confidence: 55%

The effect of Medicaid eligibility expansions on fertility

Zavodny

Bitler

2010

Social Science & Medicine

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“…My data on the history of Medicaid funding restrictions for the years 1975-1990 is the same as that utilized by Blank et al (1996) and Levine et al (1996). I am very grateful to Rebecca…”

Section: Medicaid Restrictionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Economic studies have considered the impact of Medicaid funding restrictions for abortion on the abortion rates at state or county levels (Blank et al, 1996; 3 …”

Section: Existing Empirical Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

A preliminary investigation of the effects of restrictions on Medicaid funding for abortions on female STD rates

Sen

2002

Health Economics

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Summary aThere is evidence in the economic literature that restrictions on Medicaid funding for abortion reduces the demand for abortion. The unresolved question is whether such restrictions also increase safe sex (that is, pregnancy avoidance) behavior among women. This study explores that issue using state-level gonorrhea rates among women for 1975-95. The rationale is that sexual behavior that leads to greater risk of accidental pregnancies is likely to be highly correlated with sexual behavior leading to greater risk of STD infection. Since gonorrhea has an incubation period of about a week, and is transmitted almost exclusively through sexual intercourse, a change in sexual behavior should soon be followed by a change in gonorrhea rates. The study used a partial adjustment model with lagged dependent variables estimated using Arellano-Bond's GMM method. Results fail to find any statistically significant evidence that Medicaid funding restrictions are effective in reducing gonorrhea rates. This finding is robust to a variety of alternate specifications and tests. This suggests that restrictions on Medicaid funding for abortion fail to promote safe sex behavior among women.

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“…In response to Medicaid funding restrictions, in particular, a large body of evidence indicates that these sorts of changes significantly reduced the number of abortions performed (c.f. Trussell, 1980;Joyce, 1988;Plotnick, 1990 and1995;Blank, et al, 1996, Cook, et al, 1999Currie, et al, 1996;and Haas-Wilson, 1996). A common finding across papers is that Medicaid funding restrictions lowered the abortion rate by about 3 to 5 percent.…”

mentioning

confidence: 91%

Abortion as Insurance

Levine¹,

Staiger²

2002

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This paper views abortion access as an insurance policy that protects women from unwanted pregnancies. Within this framework, we present a theoretical model where greater access provides value in the form of insurance against unwanted births and also reduces the incentive to avoid pregnancy. This model predicts that legalized abortion should lead to a reduction in the likelihood of giving birth. It also predicts that if abortion access becomes relatively inexpensive (including both monetary and psychic costs), then pregnancies would rise and births would remain unchanged or may even rise as well. We review the evidence on the impact of changes in abortion policy mainly from the United States and find support for both predictions. Then we test these hypotheses using recent changes in abortion policy in several Eastern European countries. We find that countries which changed from very restrictive to liberal abortion laws experienced a large reduction in births, highlighting the insurance value. Changes from modest restrictions to abortion available upon request, however, led to no such change in births despite large increases in abortions, indicating that pregnancies rose as well. These findings are consistent with the incentive effect implications of our model.

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State Abortion Rates: The Impact of Policies, Providers, Politics, Demographics, and Economic Environment

Cited by 78 publications

References 0 publications

The effect of Medicaid eligibility expansions on fertility

The effect of Medicaid eligibility expansions on fertility

A preliminary investigation of the effects of restrictions on Medicaid funding for abortions on female STD rates

Abortion as Insurance

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