THE IMPACT OF STATE ABORTION RESTRICTIONS ON MINORS DEMAND FOR ABORTIONS

Many states restrict the access of minors to abortion services. By Oct ober 1995, 27 states had enacted and begun to enforce parental consent or notification laws for miners and 34 states restricted Medicaid fun ding for abortions. This paper includes estimates of the impact of the se enforced abortion restrictions on miners' demand for abortions betw een 1978 and 1990. Using four estimation methods that account for diff icult-to-measure variables, such as anti-abortion sentiment, the resul ts suggest that parental involvement laws decrease miners' demand for abortions by 13 to 25 percent and state restrictions on Medicaid fundi ng of abortions decrease miners' demand for abortions by 9 to 17 perce nt.