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Did Parental Involvement Laws Grow Teeth? The Effects of State Restrictions on Minors' Access to Abortion

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  • Myers, Caitlin Knowles

    (Middlebury College)

  • Ladd, Daniel

    (University of California, Irvine)

Abstract

We compile data on the locations of abortion providers and enforcement of parental involvement laws to document dramatic increases in the distances minors must travel if they wish to obtain an abortion without involving a parent or judge. Between 1992 – the year the U.S. Supreme Court established the undue burden standard in Planned Parenthood v. Casey – and present, the average distance to a confidential abortion has increased from 55 to 454 miles. Using both double and triple-difference estimation strategies, we estimate the effects of parental involvement laws, and allow these effects to vary with the distances minors might travel to avoid them. Our results confirm previous findings that parental involvement laws did not increase teen births in the pre-Casey era, and provide new evidence that in more recent decades they have increased teen birth by an average of 3 percent. The estimated effects are increasing in avoidance distance to the point that a confidential abortion is more than a day's drive away, and also are 4 to 6 times greater in counties with high rates of poverty. We estimate that over the past 25 years, parental involvement laws have resulted in half a million additional teen births.

Suggested Citation

  • Myers, Caitlin Knowles & Ladd, Daniel, 2017. "Did Parental Involvement Laws Grow Teeth? The Effects of State Restrictions on Minors' Access to Abortion," IZA Discussion Papers 10952, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10952
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    Cited by:

    1. Clarke, Damian & Salinas, Viviana, 2020. "Access to The Emergency Contraceptive Pill Improves Women's Health: Evidence from Chile," IZA Discussion Papers 13134, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Kelly, Andrea & Lindo, Jason M. & Packham, Analisa, 2020. "The power of the IUD: Effects of expanding access to contraception through Title X clinics," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    3. Zuleika Ferre & Patricia Triunfo & José‐Ignacio Antón, 2023. "Subdermal contraceptive implants and repeat teenage motherhood: Evidence from a major maternity hospital‐based program in Uruguay," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(12), pages 2679-2693, December.
    4. Sylvain Weber & Martin Péclat & August Warren, 2022. "Travel distance and travel time using Stata: New features and major improvements in georoute," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 22(1), pages 89-102, March.
    5. Clarke, Damian, 2023. "The Economics of Abortion Policy," IZA Discussion Papers 16395, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Myers, Caitlin Knowles, 2022. "Confidential and legal access to abortion and contraception in the United States, 1960-2020," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1073, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    7. Myers, Caitlin Knowles, 2021. "Measuring the Burden: The Effect of Travel Distance on Abortions and Births," IZA Discussion Papers 14556, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Graham Gardner, 2024. "Notification and consent: the differential effects of parental involvement laws on teen abortion," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1517-1550, December.
    9. 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).
    10. Jones, Kelly M. & Pineda-Torres, Mayra, 2024. "TRAP’d Teens: Impacts of abortion provider regulations on fertility & education," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    11. Joanna Venator & Jason Fletcher, 2021. "Undue Burden Beyond Texas: An Analysis of Abortion Clinic Closures, Births, and Abortions in Wisconsin," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(3), pages 774-813, June.
    12. Theodore J. Joyce & Robert Kaestner & Jason Ward, 2020. "The Impact of Parental Involvement Laws on the Abortion Rate of Minors," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(1), pages 323-346, February.
    13. Andersen, Martin & Bryan, Sylvia & Slusky, David, 2020. "COVID-19 Surgical Abortion Restriction Did Not Reduce Visits to Abortion Clinics," IZA Discussion Papers 13832, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Fidel Gonzalez & Troy Quast & Alex Venanzi, 2020. "Factors associated with the timing of abortions," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 223-233, February.
    15. Caitlin Knowles Myers, 2022. "Confidential and legal access to abortion and contraception in the USA, 1960–2020," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(4), pages 1385-1441, October.
    16. Bethany G. Everett & Jessica N. Sanders & Jenny A. Higgins, 2023. "Abortion Policy Context in Adolescence and Men’s Future Educational Achievement," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(3), pages 1-20, June.
    17. Gonzalez, Fidel & Quast, Troy, 2022. "The relationship between abortion rates and economic fluctuations," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    18. Theodore J. Joyce & Robert Kaestner & Jason Ward, 2019. "The Impact of Parental Involvement Laws on Minor Abortion," NBER Working Papers 25758, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Cavallini, Flavia, 2024. "Not the right time for children: Unemployment, fertility, and abortion," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    20. Caitlin Myers, 2024. "Forecasts for a post‐Roe America: The effects of increased travel distance on abortions and births," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(1), pages 39-62, January.
    21. Nina Brooks & Tom Zohar, 2021. "Out of Labor and Into the Labor Force? The Role of Abortion Access, Social Stigma, and Financial Constraints," Working Papers wp2021_2111, CEMFI.
    22. Martin Andersen & Sylvia Bryan & David Slusky, 2020. "COVID-19 Restrictions Reduced Abortion Clinic Visits, Even in Blue States," NBER Working Papers 28058, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. Myers, Caitlin Knowles, 2021. "Cooling off or Burdened? The Effects of Mandatory Waiting Periods on Abortions and Births," IZA Discussion Papers 14434, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    24. Grace Arnold, 2022. "The impact of targeted regulation of abortion providers laws on abortions and births," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(4), pages 1443-1472, October.
    25. Spencer, Melissa K., 2024. "Safer sex? The effect of AIDS risk on birth rates," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    fertility; abortion;

    JEL classification:

    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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