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Title: Abortion Laws and Life Choices of Young Women and Girls in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Cross-County Analysis

Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis

Publication Year: 2019

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Abstract: Background: Early marriage and pregnancy impede the educational attainment of young women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa. Expanding the legal grounds for abortion makes it easier and safer to end unintended pregnancies, but it is not clear whether such high-level policy changes can empower young women and girls to pursue education by delaying marriage or parenting obligations. Methods: I used a difference-in-differences approach to compare marriage, birth, and schooling rates among young women and girls in ten countries that expanded the legal grounds for abortion and eight countries where abortion laws remained extremely restrictive during the period 1996 to 2015. Results: Expanding legal grounds for abortion was associated with a reduction of 2.5 percentage points (95% confidence intervals [CI]: -0.050 – -0.001), or 8.6%, in the annual likelihood of marriage and 0.7 percentage point (95% CI: -0.013 – -.002), or 7.3%, in the annual likelihood of birth. The legal reform was not associated with any statistically significant effect on schooling. The effects of abortion legal reform were driven by those from younger age groups, rural areas, and lower wealth quintiles. The results were robust to several sensitivity analyses. Conclusions: Expanding the legal grounds for abortion enhanced the ability of young women and girls to delay marriage and childbearing. Despite the lack of effects on schooling, this study highlights the broader implications of reproductive health policies to women’s agency in low-resource settings.

Url: https://ipums.org/sites/www.ipums.org/files/chang.pdf

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Authors: Chang, Wei

Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Department: Department of Health Policy and Management

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Publisher Location: Chapel Hill, NC

Pages: 1-31

Data Collections: IPUMS Global Health - DHS

Topics: Fertility and Mortality, Gender, Health

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