Utilization of oral contraception: The impact of direct and indirect restrictions on access to abortion

Abstract

Utilizing variation across U.S. state abortion restrictions on minors and different levels of provider availability, we measure whether women under the age of 25 are less careful in using contraception if abortions are less costly, in terms of both financial and opportunity cost. The effects of abortion restrictions for minors are largest and the most significant for women aged 18 and younger, and the effect of these restrictions decrease in magnitude and significance gradually as women age. As the percent of the state's women without a provider increases, abortions are more difficult to obtain, and women are more likely to use the pill. When a larger percentage of women have a provider, abortions are more easily obtained, and there is a negative effect on pill usage. These results indicate that young women are forward thinking when making their contraceptive decisions, relative to the direct and indirect restrictions on abortion access.

JEL classification:

• D1
• D81
• I18
• J13

Keywords:

• Birth control
• Oral contraception
• The pill
• Abortion legislation

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Alexandra Ehrlich, Peter Meyer and Jo Jones of the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Bhash Mazumder at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago for facilitating our access to the data. Lybecker received financial support from the Chapman Fund and The Colorado College. Felkey received financial support from the Kemper Fund and Lake Forest College. The findings and conclusions in this paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Research Data Center, National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Notes

1 Tel.: [phone].