Abortion laws and women’s health

Damian Clarke and Hanna Mühlrad

Journal of Health Economics, 2021, vol. 76, issue C

Abstract: We examine the impact of progressive and regressive abortion legislation on women's health in Mexico. Following a 2007 reform in the Federal District of Mexico which decriminalised and subsidised early-term elective abortion, multiple other Mexican states increased sanctions on illegal abortion. We observe that the original legalisation resulted in a sharp decline in maternal morbidity, particularly morbidity due to haemorrhage early in pregnancy. We observe small or null impacts on women's health from increasing sanctions on illegal abortion. These results quantify the considerable improvements in non-mortal health outcomes flowing from legal access to abortion.

Keywords: Abortion; Maternal morbidity; Maternal mortality; Health care provision; Political economy; Legislative reform (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H75 I18 J13 K38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Working Paper: Abortion Laws and Women's Health (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:76:y:2021:i:c:s0167629620310596

DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2020.102413

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