title: Does parental consent for birth control affect underage pregnancy rates? The case of Texas.
abstract: Previous work based on conjectural responses of minors predicted that the 2003 Texas requirement for parental consent for state-funded birth control to minors would lead to a large increase in underage pregnancies. We use state- and county-level data to test this prediction. The latter allow us to compare the impact of parental consent in counties with and without state-funded family planning clinics. We control for characteristics systematically correlated with the presence of state-funded clinics by combining difference-in-difference estimation with propensity score-weighted regressions. The evidence suggests that the parental consent mandate led to a large decrease in attendance at family planning clinics among teens but did not lead to an increase in underage pregnancies.
authors.affiliation: School of Economics, Sir Clive Granger Building, Nottingham University, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK, Sourafel.Girma@nottingham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Sourafel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Girma
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Paton
mesh_terms: D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000639:trends*; D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D003267:Contraception / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005193:Family Planning Services / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005260:Female; D005380:Financing, Government / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D033242:Minors / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D033282:Parental Consent / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D057216:Propensity Score; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013219:State Government; D013781:Texas