State abortion policy, geographic access to abortion providers and changing family formation

Context: One of the goals in cuffing welfare payments and setting time limi ts on welfare receipt is the reduction of ouf-of-wedlock childbearing among poor women. Yet such changes may increase the demand for abortion at the s ame time that access to abortion has decreased, throwing into doubt the pot ential effect of these changes on the proportion of women who are heading f amilies. Methods: State and county fixed-effects models were used to estimate the ef fects of factors influencing abortion availability-geographic access, paren tal notification requirements and Medicaid funding restrictions-on the coun ty-level proportion of women heading households. Results: The decline in geographic access to abortion providers during the 1980s accounted for a small but significant portion of the rise in the perc entage of women heading families (about 2%). Restrictions on Medicaid fundi ng for abortion accounted for about half of the increase in female headship among blacks, while new state parental notification requirements contribut ed modestly to the rise in the proportion of white women heading single-par ent families. Conclusions: Welfare reform legislation and attempts to reduce the availabi lity of abortion services in the United States appear to be working at cros s-purposes. Cutbacks in access to abortion may have contributed modestly to the increase in the proportion of women heading households.