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Parental involvement laws and fertility behavior.

Phillip B Levine¹

¹Department of Economics, Wellesley College, 106 Central Street, Wellesley, MA 02481, USA. plevine@wellesley.edu

Journal of Health Economics

|August 30, 2003

Summary

Parental involvement laws for minors

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Area of Science:

Reproductive Health Policy
Demography
Public Health

Background:

Parental involvement laws mandate adult consent for minors' abortions.
These laws aim to influence adolescent reproductive decisions.
Previous research on their impact has yielded mixed results.

Purpose of the Study:

To evaluate the effect of parental involvement laws on minors' abortion, birth, and pregnancy outcomes.
To analyze the impact on sexual activity and contraceptive use among minors.
To determine if these laws affect fertility outcomes differently for minors compared to other women.

Main Methods:

Utilized state-level data from 1985-1996 for abortion, birth, and pregnancy outcomes.
Employed quasi-experimental methods comparing outcomes before and after law implementation.
Analyzed microdata from the 1988 and 1995 National Surveys of Family Growth (NSFG) for sexual activity and contraception.

Main Results:

Parental involvement laws led to a reduction in abortions among minors.
The decrease in abortions was associated with fewer pregnancies overall.
No significant impact was observed on birth rates; increased contraception use, not reduced sexual activity, explained pregnancy reduction.

Conclusions:

Parental involvement laws are associated with fewer abortions among minors.
These laws appear to influence contraceptive behavior rather than sexual activity levels.
The findings suggest a nuanced impact on adolescent reproductive health outcomes.

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