Another day, another visit: Impact of Arkansas’ mandatory waiting period for women seeking an abortion by demographic groups

The Economics of Abortion Policy

“…Mandatory delay laws, which can require that individuals travel twice to abortion facilities to seek an abortion have been documented to have substantial impacts on abortion rates (Altındağ and Joyce, 2022), the proportion of abortions conducted in the second trimester (Lindo and Pineda-Torres, 2021), and, in certain contexts, to increase the rate of out-of-state abortions (Joyce and Kaestner, 2001). Altındağ and Joyce (2022), using a regression discontinuity design and a law change in Arkansas in 2015 which required that women make two trips to abortion providers prior to accessing abortion found that these mandatory delay laws reduced rates of abortion by 17%.…”