title: The effect of Medicaid abortion funding restrictions on abortions, pregnancies and births.
abstract: This paper considers whether state Medicaid abortion funding restrictions affect the likelihood of getting pregnant, having an abortion and bearing a child. We exploit a natural experiment afforded by Supreme Court decisions and employ more traditional multivariate models with alternative fixed effect specifications. An analysis of 12 years of state-level data indicate that restrictions are associated with a reduction in abortions and either no change or a reduction in births, implying fewer pregnancies. Subsequent analysis of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) is consistent with these findings and show the response is concentrated among the low-income population.
authors.affiliation: Wellesley College, Department of Economics, MA 02181, USA.
authors.forename: P B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Levine
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Trainor
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Zimmerman
mesh_terms: D000029:Abortion, Legal / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D001723:Birth Rate; D002391:Catchment Area, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008484:Medicaid / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017059:Models, Econometric; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011203:Poverty; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology