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Confidential and legal access to abortion and contraception in the United States, 1960-2020

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  • Myers, Caitlin Knowles

Abstract

An expansive empirical literature estimates the causal effects of policies governing young women's confidential and legal access to contraception and abortion. I present a new review of changes in the historical policy environment in the United States that serve as the foundation of this work. I consult primary sources including annotated statutes, judicial rulings, attorney general opinions, and advisory articles in medical journals, as well as secondary sources including newspaper articles and snapshots of various policy environments prepared by scholars, advocates, and government organizations. Based on this review, I provide a suggested coding of the policy environment over the past 60 years. I also present and compare the legal coding schemes used in the empirical literature and where possible I resolve numerous and substantial discrepancies.

Suggested Citation

  • 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).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:glodps:1073
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Myers, Caitlin & Ladd, Daniel, 2020. "Did parental involvement laws grow teeth? The effects of state restrictions on minors’ access to abortion," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    2. Caitlin Knowles Myers, 2017. "The Power of Abortion Policy: Reexamining the Effects of Young Women’s Access to Reproductive Control," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 125(6), pages 2178-2224.
    3. Andrew Beauchamp & Catherine R. Pakaluk, 2019. "The Paradox Of The Pill: Heterogeneous Effects Of Oral Contraceptive Access," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 57(2), pages 813-831, April.
    4. Claudia Goldin & Lawrence F. Katz, 2002. "The Power of the Pill: Oral Contraceptives and Women's Career and Marriage Decisions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(4), pages 730-770, August.
    5. Heinrich Hock, 2007. "The Pill and the College Attainment of American Women and Men," Working Papers wp2007_10_01, Department of Economics, Florida State University.
    6. Devin Caughey & Christopher Warshaw, 2016. "The Dynamics of State Policy Liberalism, 1936–2014," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 60(4), pages 899-913, October.
    7. Zavodny, M., 2004. "Fertility and parental consent for minors to receive contraceptives," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 94(8), pages 1347-1351.
    8. Joshua D. Angrist & William N. Evans, 1996. "Schooling and Labor Market Consequences of the 1970 State Abortion Reforms," NBER Working Papers 5406, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Merz, J.F. & Jackson, C.A. & Klerman, J.A., 1995. "A Review of Abortion Policy: Legality, Medicaid Funding and Parental Involvement, 1967-1994," Papers 95-14, RAND - Labor and Population Program.
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    11. Martha J. Bailey & Brad Hershbein & Amalia R. Miller, 2012. "The Opt-In Revolution? Contraception and the Gender Gap in Wages," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 225-254, July.
    12. Jason M. Lindo & Mayra Pineda-Torres & David Pritchard & Hedieh Tajali, 2020. "Legal Access to Reproductive Control Technology, Women's Education, and Earnings Approaching Retirement," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 110, pages 231-235, May.
    13. Jonathan Gruber & Phillip Levine & Douglas Staiger, 1999. "Abortion Legalization and Child Living Circumstances: Who is the "Marginal Child"?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(1), pages 263-291.
    14. Levine, Phillip B., 2003. "Parental involvement laws and fertility behavior," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 861-878, September.
    15. Elizabeth Oltmans Ananat & Daniel M. Hungerman, 2012. "The Power of the Pill for the Next Generation: Oral Contraception's Effects on Fertility, Abortion, and Maternal and Child Characteristics," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(1), pages 37-51, February.
    16. Nayoung Rim, 2021. "The Effect of Title IX on Gender Disparity in Graduate Education," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(2), pages 521-552, March.
    17. Office of Health Economics, 1965. "Local Health Services," Series on Health 000121, Office of Health Economics.
    18. Martha J. Bailey, 2006. "More Power to the Pill: The Impact of Contraceptive Freedom on Women's Life Cycle Labor Supply," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(1), pages 289-320.
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    Cited by:

    1. Dench, Daniel & Pineda-Torres, Mayra & Myers, Caitlin Knowles, 2023. "The Effects of the Dobbs Decision on Fertility," IZA Discussion Papers 16608, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. 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.
    3. 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).
    4. 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.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Contraception; abortion; policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • 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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