WOMENS REPRODUCTIVE CHOICES - THE IMPACT OF MEDICAID FUNDING RESTRICTIONS

As of January 1997, 34 states were enforcing restrictions on Medicaid funding for abortions, Determining whether these restrictions affect w omen's reproductive decisions was the object of a fixed-effects log-li near analysis using 11 years of data between 1978 and 1992. Results in dicate that abortion rates in states with Medicaid funding restriction s are 2% lower. than rates in states with no such restrictions. Howeve r, when the supply of abortion providers and the demographic character istics of the state population are taken into account, the difference is no longer statistically significant. Medicaid funding restrictions have no impact on birthrates and the result is the same regardless of whether the empirical model takes into account provided availability, demographic characteristics and state sentiment toward women and repro ductive rights.