Abstract
Legal abortion has recently been suggested as an essential healthcare service. In this study, we consider whether abortion legalization over 1969–1973 improved women’s health, measured by maternal mortality. Our event-study results indicate that legal abortion substantially lowered non-white maternal mortality by 30–50%, with 134 non-white maternal deaths averted nationally in the first year abortion became legal. We also find that early state-level legalizations were crucial, and more influential than the Roe v. Wade decision itself.
Type
Publication
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 16(3)
- Earlier version released as IZA Working Paper #15657
- Media mentions: Time, The Atlanta Voice, Brookings, Georgia State University news
- Other noteworthy mentions: In the economists’ amicus brief for the Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health; AEA Research Highlights
Sherajum Monira Farin
Postdoctoral Fellow
Sherajum Monira Farin is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Augusta University. Monira is an applied microeconomist with a research focus on health, labor and public economics.