Long-run Intergenerational Impact of Legal Abortion in the US [Job Market Paper]

Abstract

Previous research has shown legalization of abortion in the U.S. during 1969-1973 led to significant improvements in the health, educational, and economic outcomes of women directly affected by this policy. In this study, I analyze how children born to these women and exposed to abortion legalization, fare in life, particularly in terms of lifecycle health. I leverage the state-level variation in changes to abortion laws predating Roe v. Wade as well as the changes brought about by Roe v. Wade and implement difference-in-difference and event study techniques on data from restricted-use administrative microdata on births and deaths in the US. I find evidence that the likelihood of cohorts conceived under legal abortion surviving improves throughout the life course, though the magnitude varies somewhat depending on age and specification.