Distribution Of Abortions Research Articles

Cohort Abortion Measures for the United States.

Demographers interested in abortion in the United States have thus far focused on cross‐sectional and synthetic cohort measures, reflecting data availability. We now have cohorts that have completed their entire reproductive years after the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide. For women who are still in their childbearing years at the conclusion of data collection, I apply the Lee‐Carter forecasting technique—its first application in abortion research—to project their completed age‐specific abortion rates. Using true cohort measures reveals markedly different abortion experiences by cohort; in particular, a significant declining trend. I find stability in the distribution of abortion by abortion order and the racial composition of abortion incidences. In addition to the substantive findings, cohort measures shift the focus of quantitative abortion research from incidence rates to women's lives over their reproductive years.

The effect of abortion restrictions on the timing of abortions

This paper uses data on the distribution of abortions by weeks of gestation to examine the relationship between abortion restrictions and the timing of abortions. State-level data from 1974 to 1997 indicate that adoption of parental involvement laws for minors or enforcement of mandatory waiting periods is positively associated with the post-first trimester percentage of abortions. However, autocorrelation-corrected specifications indicate that enforced parental involvement laws increase the share of later-term abortions by lowering the first trimester abortion rate rather than by delaying abortions. Medicaid funding restrictions generally do not have a significant effect on the timing of abortions in our results.

Ecology of abortions in the United States since 1973: A replication and extension

This research examined changes in the distribution of abortions among states following the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 decision invalidating most state laws restricting abortions, and compared that distribution with the distribution that would have been observed if all state abortion rates had been equal, and with the actual and equal rate distributions of divorces. After 1973 the influence of pre-decision abortion laws on the distribution of abortions decreased and the ecological correlations between the characteristics of states and the number of abortions changed toward a more "natural" or expected pattern. Little change was observed in the distribution of hospitals performing abortions, an indication that the decision influenced individual behavior more than it influenced existing social institutions. Restrictions enacted since 1973 had little influence on the distribution. Results are interpreted as supporting theoretical approaches that emphasize environmental control of behavior over those that emphasize individual autonomy in person-environment interactions.

An Ecological Analysis of the Impact of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Abortion Decision

The ecological characteristics of states were correlated with measures of the distribution of abortions among states before and after the Supreme Court's abortion decision. Techniques of path analysis were used to separate these conelations into direct effects and effects mediated through state abortion laws. The Court decision produced a gradual decrease in the effect of abortion laws on the distribution of abortions, and in the indirect effects of ecological variables. The major trend in the direct effects of ecological variables was a gradual increase in the relationship between population size and number of abortions. Differences reflected in state laws continued to influence abortion rates per 1,000 women of reproductive age and abortion ratios per 1,000 live births.