Abortion Legalization and Child Living Circumstances: Who is the "Marginal Child"?

Abstract

Weexaminethe impact ofincreased abortion availabilityon the averageliving standards of children through a selection effect. Would the marginal child whowas not born have grown up in different circumstances than the average child? We use variation in the timing of abortion legalization across states to answer this question. Cohorts born after legalized abortion experienced a signiecant reduction in a number of adverse outcomes. We end that the marginal child would have been 40‐60 percent more likely to live in a single-parent family, to live in poverty, to receive welfare, and to die as an infant. Access to abortion is one of the most contentious public policy issues facing the United States today. The period since the legalization of abortion under the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 has been marked by incessant debate over the appropriate government enancing and legal status of abortions. Meanwhile, pregnancy resolution through abortion is a very common outcome in the United States; roughly 25 percent of all pregnancies are aborted {Ventura et al. 1995}. As a result, major changes in abortion access could have substantial effects on the birthrate. Indeed, Levine, Staiger, Kane, and Zimmerman end that the legalization of abortion in the early 1970s led to an 8 percent reduction in the birthrate. 1