Our purpose in this paper is to address the impact of abortion legalization in the United States on women's fertility behavior. First, we present a model indicating it is quite possible that the effects of abortion legalization are different than an extrapolation of the effects of relatively minor restrictions on abortions, such as Medicaid funding. Second, we use variation in the timing of abortion liberalization across states to estimate the effects on birth rates in the United States. Finally, birth rates in states legalizing abortion prior to 1983 can be compared to control group states and more likely to do so if they are closer, such comparisons by distance can examine the extent to which birth rates in control group states also declined as a result of access to legal abortions in other states.
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Paper provided by Wellesley College - Department of Economics in its series Papers with number
96-03.