The Open Demography Journal

2013, 6 : 18-27
Published online 2013 September 30. DOI: 10.2174/1874918601306010018
Publisher ID: TODEMOJ-6-18

Social Policy and Abortion: A Review of the Research

Marshall H. Medoff
Department of Economics, California State University, Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Boulevard, Long Beach, CA 90840, USA.

ABSTRACT

Since the Supreme Court's 1973 decision legalizing abortion, many states have enacted laws restricting women’s access to an abortion. There has been considerable empirical research on the impact of these restrictive state abortion laws on women's pregnancy resolution decisions. This paper reviews the empirical evidence regarding restrictions on abortion access. The empirical evidence indicates that demand-side policies (i.e., No Medicaid Funding, Parental Involvement Laws, Mandatory Counseling Laws, Mandatory Waiting Periods Laws, Partial-Birth Abortion Bans) have little effect on the incidence of abortion. TRAP laws, which are supply-side policies, have the greatest effect reducing abortion services.

Keywords:

Abortion, restrictive state abortion laws, state abortion policies.