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The impact of abortion legalisation on birth outcomes in Uruguay

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  • José-Ignacio Antón
  • Zuleika Ferre
  • Patricia Triunfo

Abstract

This work evaluates the impact of an abortion reform in Uruguay allowing free interruption of pregnancy until 12 weeks of gestation on the quantity and quality of births in the short run. We employ a differences-in-differences approach, a comprehensive administrative register of births and a novel identification strategy based on the planned or unplanned nature of pregnancies that end in births. Our results suggest that this policy induced an 8% decline in the number of births of unplanned pregnancies, driven by the group of mothers between 20 and 34 years old with secondary education. This increased the average quality of births in terms of more intensive prenatal control care and a lower probability of having a single mother. Furthermore, we document a positive selection process of births affected by the reform, as adequate prenatal control care and Apgar scores rose among the affected

Suggested Citation

  • José-Ignacio Antón & Zuleika Ferre & Patricia Triunfo, 2016. "The impact of abortion legalisation on birth outcomes in Uruguay," Economics working papers 2016-06, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    • Handle: RePEc:jku:econwp:2016_06
    Note: English
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    File URL: http://www.econ.jku.at/papers/2016/wp1606.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Libertad González & Sergi Jiménez-Martín & Natalia Nollenberger & Judit Vall-Castello, 2018. "The Effect of Abortion Legalization on Fertility, Marriage and Long-Term Outcomes for Women," Working Papers 1035, Barcelona School of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    abortion; Uruguay; fertility; difference-in-differences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • 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
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy

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