The Economic Consequences of Being Denied an Abortion

Abstract

Restrictions on abortion are pervasive, yet relatively little is known about the financial and economic impact of being denied an abortion on pregnant women who seek one. This paper evaluates the economic consequences of being denied an abortion on the basis of the gestational age of the pregnancy. Our analysis relies on new linkages to administrative credit report data for participants in the Turnaway Study, the first study to collect high-quality, longitudinal data on women receiving or being denied a wanted abortion in the United States. Some women had pregnancies close to the facility's gestational age limit, but below it, and received a wanted abortion (Near Limit Group). A second group of women had pregnancies just over the facility's gestational age limit and were turned away without receiving an abortion (Turnaway Group). We link study participants to ten years of credit report data including several years prior to their recruitment into the study. Using these data, we compare differences in credit report outcomes for the two groups of women over time using an event study design. We find that the trajectories for these outcomes are similar for the two groups of women prior to the abortion encounter. However, following their visit to the abortion provider, we find evidence of a large and persistent increase in financial distress for the women who were denied an abortion that is sustained for several years. Being denied an abortion increases the amount of debt 30 days or more past due by 78 percent and increases negative public records, such as bankruptcies and evictions, by 81 percent. We conduct additional analyses that use a regression discontinuity design to compare outcomes for women just above and just below the gestation limit at each clinic and find results that are consistent with the event study analyses. We explore the mechanisms behind these findings by taking advantage of existing survey data collected for the study participants and compare the effects sizes we document to those experienced by similar women following a "typical" birth. Our results highlight important financial and economic consequences of restrictions on abortion access.

Distance to an Abortion Provider and Its Association with the Abortion Rate: A Multistate Longitudinal Analysis

“…In addition, the same study found that those denied an abortion had a higher rate of life‐threatening physical health risks than those who obtained abortions 34 . Finally, an economic analysis of the Turnaway Study population found that when compared with those who were able to obtain an abortion, those denied abortions had increased markers of financial distress, including higher unpaid past‐due debts, more evictions and bankruptcies, and lower credit scores 35 . These data are consistent with the self‐reported experiences of patients seeking abortion in Texas after clinic closures in that state: Gerdts and colleagues reported that clinic closures were associated with higher out‐of‐pocket costs for patients, more frustrated requests for medication abortion and an increase in the reported difficulty of accessing abortion 7 .…”

COVID‐19 Abortion Bans and Their Implications for Public Health

“…17 Short-term barriers to accessing abortion during the current pandemic are likely to have long-term negative effects. Longitudinal research among U.S. women who were unable to obtain wanted abortions found that, compared with individuals who had terminated a pregnancy, those who had been denied an abortion and forced to carry to term experienced more debt, had lower credit scores 18 and were more likely to have poverty-level incomes four or more years later. 19 They also experienced more chronic pain, had worse self-reported health 20 and were more likely to experience sustained physical violence from the man involved in the pregnancy.…”

Permeability of abortion care in the Netherlands: a qualitative analysis of women’s experiences, health professional perspectives, and the internet resource of Women on Web

“…Examining barriers to abortion care is important, as denying women* desired abortions may be associated with poorer maternal bonding, lower child development scores and greater economic insecurity. [1][2][3][4][5] Women who are denied a wanted abortion may experience more partner violence, 6 more anxiety, lower self-esteem, and less life satisfaction, 7,8 and have less aspirational life plans 9 compared to those who are successful in having a wanted abortion. Unintended pregnancies are associated with greater odds of having a low birth weight baby, and stillbirth or neonatal death may be more common.…”