Parental involvement laws, religion, and abortion rates
Tóm tắt
This article explores whether policy endogeneity partially explains the negative relationship generally reported between parentll involvement laws and abortion rates, since parental involvement laws are found to be negatively related to both teen and adult abortion rates. Since parental involvement laws may be more likely to be passed in jurisdictions with a higher level of antiabortion sentiment, both the law and anti-abortion sentiment may be responsible for lower abortion rates. To explore this possible interrelatedness, a religiosity level variable was used as a proxy for anti-abortion sentiment, since anti-abortion sentiment might affect abortion rates directly and indirectly through the greater likelihood of the enactment of parental involvement laws. The relationship of parental involvement laws and religiosity level to abortion rates was analyzed for teens and adults; regressions were estimated for four age groups: 15–19, 20–24, 25–29, and 30–34 years old. Residence county-level 1995 abortion rates were regressed against parental involvement laws and religiosity levels as well as several control county-level variables—restrictive public funding, unemployment rate, population density, percent of college graduates, extent of poverty, percent of married-couple families, and geographic region. The sample consisted of the 1,008 counties from the 17 states that reported abortion numbers by county and by age group. Using log transformations of the dependent variable abortion rates, log-linear weighted regression models were run for the four age groups. Parental involvement laws were highly statistically significantly related (p<0.1) to lower abortion rates for all four age groups; the coefficient was larger, however, when the religiosity level variable was excluded from the model. The coefficient for the religiosity level was highly statistically significant (p<01) for all four age groups when the parental involvement variable was excluded from the model; when the parental involvement variable was included in the model, the coefficient for the religiosity level decreased for all four age groups and was statistically significant for only three of the four age groups. Since the coefficients for both the religiosity level and the parental involvement law decrease when both variables are included, the negative relationship between parental involvement laws and abortion rates does seem to reflect some policy endogeneity so that the reported impact of parental involvement laws may be overstated.
Tài liệu tham khảo
AUL (Americans United for Life). 1996. State Parental Involvement Statutes. AUL, 343 S. Dearborn St., Suite 1804, Chicago, Illinois.
Blank, R. C., George, C. and London, R. 1994. “State Abortion Rates: The Impact of Policy, Provider Availability, Political Climate, Demography and Economics.” National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper No. 4853.
Bradley, M. 1992. Churches and Church Membership in the U.S.. Glenmary Research Center, Atlanta, GA.
Bureau of the Census. 1996. USA Counties 1996. Economics and Statistics Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce (compact disk).
Cartoof, V. G. and Klerman, L. V. 1986 “Parental Consent for Abortion: Impact of the Massachusetts Law.” American Journal of Public Health 76(4):397–400.
Chalfant, H. P., Beckley, R. E. and Palmer, E. E. 1987. Religion in Contemporary Society. Mayfield Publishing Company, Palo Alto, California.
Cochran, J. K., Chamlin, M. B., Beeghley, L. L., Harnden, A. and Blackwell, B. S. 1996. “Religious Stability, Endogamy, and the Effects of Personal Religiosity on Attitudes Toward Abortion.” Sociology of Religion 57 (3): 291–309.
Garbacz, C. 1990. “Abortion Demand.” Population Research and Policy Review 9: 151–160.
Greene, William H. 1993 Econometric Analysis, 2nd ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
Haas-Wilson, D. 1996. “The Impact of State Abortion Restrictions on Minors' Demand for Abortions.” The Journal of Human Resources 31: 140–158.
— 1997. “Women's Reproductive Choices: The Impact of Medicaid Funding Restrictions.” Family Planning Perspectives 29 (5): 228–233.
Henshaw, S. K. 1995. “The Impact of Requirements for Parental Consent on Minors' Abortions in Mississippi.” Family Planning Perspective 27(3):120–122.
Joyce, T. and Kaestner, R. 1996. “State Reproductive Policies and Adolescent Pregnancy Resolution: The Case of Parental Involvement Laws.” Journal of Health Economics 15: 579–607.
Klitsch, M. 1991. “Teenage Abortions Fell after Minnesota Imposed Parental Notification Law.” Family Planning Perspectives 23(5): 240.
Levine, P.B., Trainor, A.B. and Zimmerman, D.J. 1996. “The Effect of Medicaid Abortion Funding Restrictions on Abortions, Pregnancies, and Births.” Journal of Health Economics 15: 555–578.
Maddala, G. 1983. Limited Dependent and Qualitative Variables in Econometrics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.
Mendenhall, W. and Sinich, T. 1989. A Second Course in Business Statistics: Regression Analysis. San Francisco, CA: Dellen Publishing Company
NARAL (National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League). 1997. Restrictions on Minors' Access to Abortion Report.
Neter, J., Wasserman, W. and Kutner, M. H. 1989. Applied Linear Regression, 2nd ed. Homewood, IL: Irwin Publishing Company.
Ohsfeldt, R.L. and Gohmann, S.F. 1994. “Do Parental Involvement Laws Reduce Adolescent Abortion Rates?.” Contemporary Economic Policy 12(2):65–76.
Rogers, J. L., Boruch, R. F., Stoms G. B. and DeMoya D. 1991. “Impact of the Minnesota Parental Notification Law on Abortion and Birth.” American Journal of Public Health 81(3): 294–298.
Rothstein, D. S. 1992. “An Economic Approach to Abortion Demand.” The American Economist 36: 53–64.
Sollom, T. and Gold R. 1996. “Public Funding for Contraceptive, Sterilization, and Abortion Services, 1994.” Family Planning Perspectives 28 (4): 166–174.
Studenmund, A. H. 1997 Using Econometrics, 3rd ed. Addison-Wesley Publishing, Reading, Massachusetts.
Tomal, A. 1999a. “Parental Involvement Laws and Minor and Non-Minor Teen Abortion and Birth Rates.” Journal of Family and Economic Issues 20(2): 149–162.
b. “The Effect of Church Membership on Teen Abortion, Birth, and Pregnancy Rates.” Paper presented at Midwest Economic Association, Nashville, Tennessee.
Wilcox, C. 1992. Race, Religion, Region and Abortion Attitudes. Sociological Analysis 53(1): 97–105.