Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The Effect of Anti-Abortion Legislation on Nineteenth Century Fertility

  • Published:
Demography

Abstract

Using nineteenth century legal information combined with census information, I examine the effect of state laws that restricted American women’s access to abortion on the ratio of children to women. I estimate an increase in the birthrate of 4 % to 12 % when abortion is restricted. In the absence of anti-abortion laws, fertility would have been 5 % to 12 % lower in the early twentieth century.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The interpolation formula is (A + 8B – C) / 16, where A is the 30–39 cohort, B is 40–49, and C is 50–59.

  2. The entire set of citations for these data is not included for brevity’s sake. An example of the basic format of these citations can be found in the entry for the U.S. Census Bureau (2012) in the reference list.

  3. None of the controls listed significantly predict the passage of a law within the next decade using Eq. (1) and law passage as a dependent variable.

  4. Charts and tables examining the nonlinearity of the post period (available from the author) suggest this latter explanation may be correct but are not conclusive given the fragility of the data and the length of the period studied.

References

  • Ananat, E., Gruber, J., Levine, P., & Staiger, D. (2009). Abortion and selection. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 91, 124–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Angrist, J., & Evans, W. N. (1999). Schooling and labor-market consequences of the 1970 state abortion reforms. In S. W. Polachek & J. Robst (Eds.), Research in labor economics (pp. 75–113). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bailey, M. J. (2010). “Momma’s got the pill”: How Anthony Comstock and Griswold v. Connecticut shaped US childbearing. American Economic Review, 100, 98–129.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bailey, M. J. (2012). Reexamining the impact of family planning programs on US fertility: Evidence from the war on poverty and the early years of Title X. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 4(2), 62–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boland, R., & Katzive, L. (2008). Developments in laws on induced abortion: 1998–2007. International Family Planning Perspectives, 34, 110–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brodie, J. F. (1994). Contraception and abortion in 19th century America. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carter, S. B., Gartner, S. S., Haines, M. R., Olmstead, A. L., Sutch, R., & Wright, G. (Eds.). (2006). The historical statistics of the United States. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carter, S. B., Ransom, R. L., & Sutch, R. (2004). Family matters: The life-cycle transition and the antebellum American fertility decline. In T. W. Guinnane, W. A. Sundstrom, & W. Whatley (Eds.), History matters: Essays on economic growth, technology, and demographic change (pp. 271–327). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • David, P. A., & Sanderson, W. C. (1986). Rudimentary contraceptive methods and the American transition to marital fertility control, 1855–1915. In S. L. Engerman & R. E. Gallman (Eds.), Long-term factors in American economic growth (pp. 307–390). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Degler, C. N. (1980). At odds: Women and the family in America from the revolution to the present. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dellapenna, J. W. (2006). Dispelling the myths of abortion history. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dennett, M. W. (1926). Birth control laws, shall we keep them, change them or abolish them. New York, NY: F. H. Hitchcock.

    Google Scholar 

  • Easterlin, R. A. (1971). Does human fertility adjust to the environment? American Economic Review, 61, 399–407.

    Google Scholar 

  • Easterlin, R. A. (1976a). Factors in the decline of farm family fertility in the United States: Some preliminary research results. Journal of American History, 63, 600–614.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Easterlin, R. A. (1976b). Population change and farm settlement in the northern United States. Journal of Economic History, 36, 45–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Easterlin, R. A., Alter, G., & Condran, G. (1978). Farms and farm families in old and new areas: The northern states in 1860. In T. K. Hareven & M. A. Vinovskis (Eds.), Family and population in the nineteenth century America (pp. 22–84). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ernst, E. (2002). Herbal medicinal products during pregnancy: Are they safe? BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 109, 227–235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forster, C., & Tucker, G. S. L. (1972). Economic opportunity and white American fertility ratios 1800–1860. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gruber, J., Levine, P. B., & Staiger, D. (1999). Abortion legalization and child living circumstances: Who is the “marginal child”? Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114, 263–292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guest, A. M. (1981). Social structures and U.S. inter-state fertility differentials in 1900. Demography, 18, 465–486.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guest, A. M., & Tolnay, S. (1983a). Urban industrial structure and fertility: The case of large American cities. Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 13, 387–409.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guest, A. M., & Tolnay, S. (1983b). Children’s roles and fertility: Late nineteenth-century United States. Social Science History, 7, 355–380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guinnane, T. W. (2011). The historical fertility transition: A guide for economists. Journal of Economic Literature, 49, 589–614.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guldi, M. (2008). Fertility effects of abortion and birth control pill access for minors. Demography, 45, 817–827.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haines, M. R. (1986). Comment on new results on the decline in household fertility in the United States from 1750 to 1900. In S. L. Engerman & R. E. Gallman (Eds.), Long-term factors in American economic growth (pp. 426–437). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haines, M. R. (1987). Economic history and historical demography: Past, present, and future. In A. J. Field (Ed.), The future of economic history (pp. 185–253). Boston, MA: Kluwer-Nijhoff Publishing.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Haines, M. R. (2000). The population of the United States, 1790–1920. In S. L. Engerman & R. E. Gallman (Eds.), The Cambridge economic history of the United States (Vol. II): The long nineteenth century (pp. 143–206). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Haines, M. R., & Guest, A. M. (2008). Fertility in New York State in the pre-Civil War era. Demography, 45, 345–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haines, M. R., & Hacker, J. D. (2006). The puzzle of antebellum fertility decline in the United States: New evidence and reconsideration (Working Paper No. 12571). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.

  • King, C. R. (1992). Abortion in nineteenth century America: A conflict between women and their physicians. Women's Health Issues, 2, 32–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King, M., & Ruggles, S. (1990). American immigration, fertility, and race suicide at the turn of the century. Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 20, 347–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lader, L. (1966). Abortion. New York, NY: Bobbs-Merril Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levine, P. B. (2004). Sex and consequences. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levine, P. B., Staiger, D., Kane, T. J., & Zimmerman, D. J. (1999). Roe v. Wade and American fertility. American Journal of Public Health, 89, 199–203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLaren, A. (1990). A history of contraception: From antiquity to the present day. Cambridge, MA: Basic Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mohr, J. C. (1978). Abortion in America: The origins and evolution of national policy, 1800–1900. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Polsky, S. (1970). Legal aspects of abortion. Seminars in Psychiatry, 2, 246–257.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quay, E. (1961). Justifiable abortion–Medical and legal foundations. Georgetown Law Journal, 49, 395–538.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reed, J. (1978). From private vice to public virtue: The birth control movement and American society since 1830. New York, NY: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruggles, S., Alexander, J. T., Genadek, K., Goeken, R., Schroeder, M. B., & Sobek, M. (2010). Integrated public use microdata series: Version 5.0 [Machine-readable database]. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanderson, W. C. (1979). Quantitative aspects of marriage, fertility and family limitations in nineteenth century America: Another application of the Coale specification. Demography, 16, 339–358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith-Rosenberg, C. (1985). Disorderly conduct: Visions of gender in Victorian America. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steckel, R. H. (1992). The fertility transition in the United States: Tests of alternative hypotheses. In C. Goldin & H. Rockoff (Eds.), Strategic factors in nineteenth century American economic history: A volume to honor Robert W. Fogel (pp. 351–374). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Storer, H. R. (1860). Criminal abortion in America. Philadelphia, PA: J. P. Lippincott & Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Storer, H. R., & Heard, F. F. (1868). Criminal abortion: Its nature, its evidence, and its law. Boston, MA: Little, Brown, and Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sundstrom, W. A., & David, P. A. (1988). Old-age security motives, labor markets, and farm-family fertility in antebellum America. Explorations in Economic History, 25, 164–197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tolnay, S. E., Graham, S. N., & Guest, A. M. (1982). Own child estimates of U.S. white fertility, 1886–99. Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History, 15, 127–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tolnay, S. E., & Guest, A. M. (1982). Childlessness in a transitional population: The United States at the turn of the century. Journal of Family History, 7, 200–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tolnay, S. E., & Guest, A. M. (1984). American family building strategies in 1900: Stopping or spacing. Demography, 21, 9–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Census Bureau. (2012). Alabama: 2010. Population and Housing Unit Counts (CPH-2-2). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/cph-2-2.pdf

  • Wahl, J. B. (1986). New results on the decline in household fertility in the United States from 1750 to 1900. In S. L. Engerman & R. E. Gallman (Eds.), Long-term factors in American economic growth (pp. 391–437). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolfers, J. (2006). Did unilateral divorce laws raise divorce rates? A reconciliation and new results. American Economic Review, 96, 1802–1820.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yasuba, Y. (1962). Birth rates of the white population in the United States, 1800–1860: An economic study. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Elizabeth Ananat, Martha Bailey, Dora L. Costa, Laura Dague, Claudia Goldin, J. David Hacker, Michael Haines, Ann McCants, Bob Margo, Karen Norberg, and Lori Taylor for helpful discussions; Michael Haines for assistance with census tables; and state law librarians in many states for assistance with historical abortion laws. Thanks also to seminar participants at APPAM, the University of California at Riverside, the University of Kansas, the NBER Development of the American Economy, Northwestern University, Pomona College, and SSHA; to Jillian Boles, Alejandro Bras, Erin Harrison, Rebecca Willis, and YiDing Yu for excellent research assistance; and to M. Rose Barlow and Mary Cozad for comments. Finally, thanks to three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments. The author thanks the National Institute on Aging NBER Grant # T32-AG00186 for funding and support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bush School, Texas A&M University, Mailstop 4220, College Station, TX, 77845, USA

    Joanna N. Lahey

  2. National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Joanna N. Lahey

Authors
  1. Joanna N. Lahey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joanna N. Lahey.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lahey, J.N. The Effect of Anti-Abortion Legislation on Nineteenth Century Fertility. Demography 51, 939–948 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-014-0293-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-014-0293-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation