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Begin New Search Topic Abortion Publication Year within 1 Year

1. Abortion Views in All 50 States: Findings from PRRI’s 2023 American Values Atlas

Author:
PRRI Staff
Publication Date:
05-2024
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
PRRI: Public Religion Research Institute
Abstract:
Nearly two-thirds of Americans support abortion legality in all or most cases; partisans remain deeply divided. More than six in ten Americans (64%) say abortion should be legal in most or all cases; by contrast, 35% of Americans say abortion should be illegal in most or all cases. Just 9% of Americans believe that abortion should be illegal in all cases. Republicans and Democrats are deeply divided on abortion, with a 50-point gap between them: 86% of Democrats say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared with 36% of Republicans. Just 15% of Republicans believe abortion should be illegal in all cases. While Republican attitudes on abortion legality remain largely unchanged since 2010, Democratic support for abortion legality increased from 71% in 2010 to 86% in 2023; Support for abortion legality has also increased among independents over time, from 54% in 2010 to 67% in 2023.
Topic:
Religion, Public Opinion, Domestic Politics, and Abortion
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

2. Sex-Selective Abortion and the Collapse of the Soviet Union

Author:
Raymond Caraher, Shih-Yen Pan, and Lawrence King
Publication Date:
10-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts Amherst
Abstract:
Elevated Sex Ratios at Birth (SRBs)—an indicator of sex-selective abortion—have been documented in many countries worldwide. This paper examines the causal effect of the Soviet Union’s collapse on SRBs in Post-Soviet countries, using a differencein-differences research design. Our findings indicate that the collapse resulted in a rise in SRBs by approximately 1.5 percent, peaking in the late 1990s before subsiding in the 2000s. This result suggests that the collapse of the Soviet Union explains 64 percent of the approximately 192,000 missing girls in the Post-Soviet states in the 1990s. Furthermore, the impact of the collapse on SRBs was observed in both high and low son-preference countries, with the effect being roughly twice as large in high sonpreference countries, where it persisted into the late 2000s. The conventional theory of pre-natal sex selection typically involves the introduction of modern sex-determination technology into a cultural environment which values sons over daughters. Our findings suggest that economic and political shocks can also be key drivers behind increases in sex-selective abortion and SRBs.
Topic:
Reproductive Health, Abortion, and Gender
Political Geography:
Soviet Union

3. Do Abortion Bans Affect Reproductive and Infant Health? Evidence from Texas’s 2021 Ban and its Impact on Health Disparities

Author:
Raymond Caraher
Publication Date:
07-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts Amherst
Abstract:
The overturning of Roe v. Wade led to a wave of abortion bans in state legislatures across the United States. This emergence of a restrictive reproductive health policy environment has the potential to affect a wide range of reproductive health outcomes. This paper uses Texas’s 2021 6- week ban on abortion as a case study to examine the causal effect of an abortion ban on reproductive health outcomes, specifically abortion rates, fertility rates, and infant health outcomes. It examines how these effects may be heterogeneous by group, especially focusing on how the effects of abortion bans on reproductive health may be concentrated in those who are already facing disparities in reproductive health outcomes such as Black women. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, the analysis finds that the ban decreased abortion rates by over 40 percent, and increased fertility rates by about 4 percent, with the largest increases for Black non-Hispanic women and for counties far from a state with less restrictive abortion laws. This paper then constructs a measure of unmet reproductive health needs after an abortion ban, and finds that the unmet needs after the Texas 6-week ban are largest in counties with higher proportions of Black non-Hispanic residents, as well as counties which are furthest away from states which did not ban abortion after the Dobbs decision. The analysis then examines the effect of the ban on infant health outcomes, specifically focusing on heterogeneity in the effect of the ban on birth weight and infant mortality. This paper finds that the ban led to increases in the probability of an infant being born with very low birth weight of about 7 percent, with Black non-Hispanic infants experiencing the largest increases in the likelihood of very low birth weight. Additionally, the analysis finds significant increases in the infant mortality rate of about 6 percent after the abortion ban, again with Black non-Hispanic infants experiencing the largest increases in mortality. Further, the ban increased infant mortality rates more in counties which are further away from states which did not ban abortion after the Dobbs decision. The results suggest that the effects of abortion bans tend to be especially concentrated in marginalized populations, as well as those who are least able to shift their fertility options away from in-state abortions after a ban. The analysis shows that the trend towards an increasing number abortion bans will further exacerbate disparities in reproductive health outcomes.
Topic:
Public Health, Reproductive Health, and Abortion
Political Geography:
Texas and United States of America

4. Abortion, Religion and Race in Post-Roe America with Asifa Quraishi (Episode 15)

Author:
Asifa Quraishi and Sahar Aziz
Publication Date:
08-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:
The U.S. Supreme Court's overruling of Roe v. Wade has rightfully triggered a national debate about the role of religion in lawmaking, women's rights to control their reproductive health, and the racially disparate impact of state prohibitions on abortion. Join our host Sahar Aziz (https://saharazizlaw.com/) and legal scholars Asifa Quraishi-Landes (https://law.wisc.edu/profiles/aqurais...) , and Cynthia Soohoo (https://www.law.cuny.edu/academics/cl...) on the legal, political, and social implications of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.
Topic:
Race, Religion, Women, Reproductive Rights, Abortion, and Roe v. Wade
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

5. Abortion Legalization and Adolescent Fertility: New Evidence for Uruguay Based on the Synthetic Control Method

Author:
Rafael-Andrés Velázquez-Pérez
Publication Date:
11-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Distributive, Labor and Social Studies (CEDLAS)
Abstract:
Following abortion legalization in Uruguay in late 2012, adolescent fertility rate fell by more than half. This paper aims at establishing a causality relationship. To estimate the impact of the abortion reform on adolescent fertility I use the Synthetic Control Method by comparing trends of Uruguay with Latin America and the Caribbean countries with restrictive abortion laws. Results suggest adolescent fertility rate was reduced in the postreform period by an average of 8.3 births per 1,000 girls aged 15-19, a decline of almost 15% with respect to the synthetic control unit. In-space placebos indicate this effect is statistically significant at the 5% level. This conclusion holds after conducting an in-time placebo test and a leave-one-out test. To the present time, evidence on the impact of Uruguayan abortion legalization on adolescent fertility that has addressed endogeneity is mixed, and based entirely on identification strategies that exploit different sources of exogenous within-country variation that determines the exposure to the reform. My contribution here is to exploit between-country variation, bringing new evidence to the on-going debate.
Topic:
Adolescence, Fertility, Abortion, and Synthetic Control Method
Political Geography:
Uruguay and Latin America