Abortion policy and teen reproductive behavior in the U.S.: The case of parental involvement laws.
Item
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Title
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Abortion policy and teen reproductive behavior in the U.S.: The case of parental involvement laws.
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Identifier
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AAI3311216
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identifier
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3311216
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Creator
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Colman, Silvie.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Theodore Joyce
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Date
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2008
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Economics, General | Political Science, Public Administration
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Abstract
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Laws that require that physicians either notify or acquire the consent of the parent(s)' of a minor seeking an abortion have gained in popularity over the years. Currently 36 states enforce a parental involvement law in some form. Yet, the evidence on the effect of these laws on minors' reproductive behavior is mixed. In Chapter I of this essay we argue that the lack of consensus is related to limitations in available data on abortions that have undermined the identification strategies. Using individual-level data on abortions and births from Texas, we show that analyses based on minors' age at the time of the abortion or birth overestimate the decline in the abortion rate and underestimate the rise in the birth rate, and can lead to the erroneous inference that pregnancy rates decline in response to a parental involvement law. We utilize a robust identification strategy by minimizing the age difference between our treatment and control groups in order to make the two more comparable. We find a decline in the abortion rate of minors ages 17 years and 6-9 months at the time of conception, where the decline is smaller for those closer to age 18, and some evidence of a rise in the birth rate of the younger group, although not statistically significant. We find no change in the pregnancy rate of either group. Consequently, the law is associated with an increase in the probability of birth for teens ages 17 years and 6-9 months; for those ages 17 years and 8-9 months the association is weaker. Since we find no evidence of a change in pregnancies, the increase in the probability of giving birth conditional on pregnancy is likely the result of an increase in unintended childbearing. In Chapter II we evaluate a behavior that has mostly been overlooked in previous studies, namely the likelihood that older 17 year-olds delay the abortion until age 18 in order to avoid compliance with the parental notification requirement. This behavior persists even 4 years after introduction of Texas's law. We provide some suggestive evidence that exposure to the risks associated with second-trimester abortions increased among teens who responded to the law by delaying the abortion until age 18.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
