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Anti‐Abortion Activities and the Market for Abortion Services: Protest as a Disincentive
Author(s) -
Caudill Steven B.,
Mixon Franklin G.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
american journal of economics and sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1536-7150
pISSN - 0002-9246
DOI - 10.1111/1536-7150.00038
Subject(s) - abortion , estimation , supply and demand , ordinary least squares , economics , business , demographic economics , pregnancy , econometrics , microeconomics , genetics , management , biology
Cross‐section data for the US are used to estimate the effects of anti‐abortion activity on the demand and supply of abortion services in 1992. Empirical results show that anti‐abortion activity had a signi~cant negative impact on both the demand and supply of abortion services. Using estimates from a two‐stage least‐squares estimation of demand and supply, anti‐abortion activities (measured as picketing with physical contact or blocking of patients) have decreased the market equilibrium abortion rate by an estimated 19 percent and raised the price of an abortion by approximately 4.3 percent. Taken together, the empirical results show that anti‐abortion activities have been successful in making abortion services scarcer.