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Legal status and voluntary abortions by immigrants

Author

Listed:
  • Luca Pieroni
  • Melcior Rosselló Roig
  • Luca Salmasi

    (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
    Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore)

  • Gilberto Turati

    (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
    Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore)

Abstract

We estimate the effect of granting legal status to immigrant women on voluntary abortions. We exploit the 2007 EU enlargement as an exogenous shock to legal status for Romanian and Bulgarian women, considering Italy as a destination country. Using a standard Difference-in-Differences model, we estimate a decline between 60% and 70% in voluntary pregnancy termination (VPT) rates for the new EU citizens from the two Eastern countries. We also introduce a novel framework to separate the total effect of the enlargement into a “citizenship” effect due to (legal or illegal) migrants already present in Italy and a “selection” effect due to new flows of immigrants. We show that the findings are robust to several alternative explanations. The drop in abortions points to legal status as a way to empower immigrant women.

Suggested Citation

  • Luca Pieroni & Melcior Rosselló Roig & Luca Salmasi & Gilberto Turati, 2023. "Legal status and voluntary abortions by immigrants," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def126, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    • Handle: RePEc:ctc:serie1:def126
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Russell Davidson & Andrea Monticini, 2023. "Bootstrap Performance with Heteroskedasticity," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def130, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    2. Valentina Colombo & Alessia Paccagnini, 2024. "Uncertainty and the Federal Reserve’s Balance Sheet Monetary Policy," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def131, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    3. Cavallini, Flavia, 2024. "Not the right time for children: Unemployment, fertility, and abortion," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    4. Andrea Boitani & Catalin Dragomirescu-Gaina & Andrea Monticini, 2025. "Managing the chaos: policy challenges in a hyperinflationary environment," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def142, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    5. Elena Cottini & Lorena Popescu & Luca Salmasi & Gilberto Turati, 2025. "Poisoned Air, Shortened Lives: PM2.5 Exposure and Premature Mortality in Southern European Cities," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def143, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    6. Federico Di Pace & Giacomo Mangiante & Riccardo Masolo, 2024. "Monetary policy rules: the market’s view," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def137, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • K37 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Immigration Law
    • 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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