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The effects of post-Dobbs abortion bans on fertility

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  • Dench, Daniel
  • Pineda-Torres, Mayra
  • Myers, Caitlin

Abstract

The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization sparked the most profound transformation of the landscape of abortion access in 50 years. We provide the first estimates of the effects of near-total abortion bans on fertility using a pre-registered synthetic difference-in-differences design applied to newly released provisional natality data for the first half of 2023. The results indicate that states with abortion bans experienced an average increase in births of 2.3 percent relative to if no bans had been enforced.

Suggested Citation

  • Dench, Daniel & Pineda-Torres, Mayra & Myers, Caitlin, 2024. "The effects of post-Dobbs abortion bans on fertility," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:234:y:2024:i:c:s0047272724000604
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2024.105124
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. António Melo, 2024. "Do all roads lead to the same destination? Proximity to abortion providers, abortions, and their conditions in Portugal," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(4), pages 1-31, December.
    2. Henry Saffer & Selen Ozdogan & Michael Grossman & Daniel L. Dench & Dhaval M. Dave, 2024. "Comprehensive E-cigarette Flavor Bans and Tobacco Use among Youth and Adults," NBER Working Papers 32534, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Abortion; Dobbs; Fertility; Power analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • K23 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Regulated Industries and Administrative Law

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