The Supply of Infants Relinquished for Adoption: Did Access to Abortion Make a Difference?

Lisa A Gennetian

Economic Inquiry, 1999, vol. 37, issue 3, 412-31

Abstract: Motivated by a theory of desired fertility I use three years of aggregate state level data to examine the impact of abortion access on the supply of infants relinquished for adoption. I show evidence that abortion access affected the supply of infants relinquished during the 1980s in two different ways. First, the availability of abortion providers has the expected effect of reducing the supply of infants relinquished, particularly relative to the demand for abortion. Second, abortion law has an unexpected negative effect. This suggests that as abortion laws become more restrictive the total number of unwanted births may decrease. Copyright 1999 by Oxford University Press.

Date: 1999
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