The Impact of Women’s Health Clinic Closures on Fertility

Yao Lu and David Slusky
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Yao Lu: Analysis Group, Inc., 111 Huntington Avenue, 14th Floor, Boston, MA 02199

No 201607, WORKING PAPERS SERIES IN THEORETICAL AND APPLIED ECONOMICS from University of Kansas, Department of Economics

Abstract: The government of Texas recently enacted multiple restrictions and funding limitations on women’s health organizations that provide abortion services or are associated with those that do. These policies have caused numerous clinic closures throughout the state, drastically reducing access to care. We study the impact of these clinic closures on fertility by combining quarterly snapshots of health center addresses from a network of women's health centers with restricted geotagged data of all Texas birth certificates for 2007–2013. We calculate the driving distance to the nearest clinic for each ZIP code, and find that an increase of 100 miles to the nearest clinic results in a 1.2 percent increase in the birth rate. This increase is driven by fertility changes for unmarried women and those having their first or second child. It also reduces average maternal age.

Keywords: Women’s Health; Family Planning; Abortion; Contraception; Birth Rate; Access; Restriction; Law; Texas (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H75 I18 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-08, Revised 2016-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem and nep-hea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Impact of Women's Health Clinic Closures on Fertility (2019)
Journal Article: The Impact of Women's Health Clinic Closures on Fertility (2019)
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