Does Access to Contraception Affect the Timing of Abortions?

We investigate whether the changes in the access to contraception could mitigate some of the effects of unwanted pregnancy. The incidence of pregnancy resulting in abortion is especially high among lower income women. These women are also more likely to delay termination due to a lack of immediately available funds for the procedure and the financial burden increases with the duration of pregnancy. We use individual level abortion data for Oregon to analyze the potential effect of increased access to contraception, due to introduction of the contraception coverage mandates that decrease the out-of-pocket expenses for women with private insurance, on the timing of abortion. The direction of such an effect is theoretically ambiguous, as changes in the cost of contraception can affect several stages of the fertility decision process, including inducing changes in sexual behavior. Therefore, the identification of the effect (if any) is an empirical issue. The results from a discrete hazard model indicate that the policy changes are associated with a small but statistically significant decrease in the time when pregnancies are terminated. We provide suggestive evidence that the effect is concentrated among women residing in the poorer Oregon counties.