The Impact of Legal Abortion on Maternal Mortality

Sherajum Monira Farin, Lauren Hoehn-Velasco and Michael Pesko

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2024, vol. 16, issue 3, 174-216

Abstract: Legal abortion has recently been suggested as an essential health care service. In this study, we consider whether abortion legalization over 1969–1973 improved women's health as measured by maternal mortality. Our event study results indicate that legal abortion substantially lowered non-White maternal mortality by 30–50 percent, 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.

JEL-codes: I12 I18 J13 J16 K10 K38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Working Paper: The Impact of Legal Abortion on Maternal Mortality (2022)
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DOI: 10.1257/pol.20220208

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