Abstract
Child maltreatment is a substantial problem in the U.S. yet has received relatively little attention from economists. This article examines the relationship between abortion availability and economic factors at the time children were conceived and subsequent measures of child maltreatment in the U.S. as well as the influence of contemporaneous economic conditions. Our measures of child maltreatment are state-level rates of child abuse and neglect reports, the fraction of children receiving social services, and child deaths and murders. The results indicate that legalized abortion for each successive cohort led to a decline in total reported incidents of child abuse and neglect of about 10 percent and a negative effect on the fraction of children receiving social services. Child deaths and murders are not related to abortion legalization. Medicaid funding restrictions are associated with an increase in substantiated reports of abuse and an increase in murders by relatives or parents; other post-legalization restrictions are not consistently associated with the various measures of child maltreatment. The effects of welfare benefits, average income, and unemployment rates are mixed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Angrist, Joshua D. and William N. Evans. (1999). "Schooling and Labor Market Consequences of the 1970 State Abortion Reforms." In Solomon W. Polachek (ed.), Research in Labor Economics, Vol. 18. Greenwich, CT: JA1 Press.
Ards. Sheila. (1992). "Understanding Patterns of Child Maltreatment." Contemporary Policy Issues 10, 39-50.
Benedict, Mary I., Roger B. White, and Donald A. Cornely. (1985). "Maternal Perinatal Risk Factors and Child Abuse." Child Abuse & Neglect 9, 217-224.
Berger, Lawrence M. (2003). "Income, Family Structure, and Child Maltreatment Risk." Mimeo, Princeton University.
Bitler, Marianne P., and Madeline Zavodny. (2002). "Did Abortion Legalization Reduce the Number of Unwanted Children? Evidence from Adoptions." Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health 24, 25-33.
Blank, Rebecca M., Christine C. George, and Rebecca A. London. (1996). "State Abortion Rates: The Impact of Policies, Providers, Politics, Demographics, and Economic Environment." Journal of Health Economics 15, 513-553.
Cook, Philip J. et al. (1999). "The Effects of Short-Term Variation in Abortion Funding on Pregnancy Outcomes." Journal of Health Economics 18, 241-257.
Daro, Deborah and Leslie Mitchel. (1990). "Current Trends in Child Abuse Reporting and Fatalities: The Results of the 1989 Annual Fifty State Survey." National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse, Working Paper No. 808.
Dee, Thomas S. (2003). "Until Death Do You Part: The Effects of Unilateral Divorce on Spousal Homicides." Economic Inquiry 41, 163-182.
Dehejia, Rajeev and Adriana Lleras-Muney. (2003). "The Timing of Births: Is the Health of Infants Countercyclical?" NBER Working Paper No. 10122.
Donohue, John J., III and Steven D. Levitt. (2001). "The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime." Quarterly Journal of Economics 116, 379-420.
Fox, James A. (2001). Uniform Crime Reports: Supplementary Homicide Reports, 1976–1999. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research.
Friedberg, Leora F. (1998). "Did Unilateral Divorce Raise Divorce Rates? Evidence from Panel Data." American Economic Review 88, 608-627.
Geen, Rob, Shelley Waters Boots, and Karen C. Tumlin. (1999). "The Cost of Protecting Vulnerable Children: Understanding Federal, State, and Local Child Welfare Spending." Urban Institute Occasional Paper No. 20.
Geen, Rob et al. (2001). "Welfare Reform's Effect on Child Welfare Caseloads." Urban Institute Discussion Paper No. 01-04.
Grossman, Michael and Steven Jacobwitz. (1981). "Variations in Infant Mortality Rates among Counties of the United States: The Roles of Public Policies and Programs." Demography 18, 695-713.
Gruber, Jonathan, Phillip Levine, and Douglas Staiger. (1999). "Abortion Legalization and Child Living Circumstances: Who is the 'Marginal Child'?" Quarterly Journal of Economics 114, 263-291.
Herman-Giddens, Marcia E. et al. (1999). "Underascertainment of Child Abuse Mortality in the United States." Journal of the American Medical Association 282, 463-467.
Johnson, Charles F. (2000). "Death from Child Abuse and Neglect." The Lancet 356, S14.
Joyce, Theodore. (2004). "Did Legalized Abortion Lower Crime?" Journal of Human Resources 39, 1-28.
Kane, Thomas J. and Douglas Staiger. (1996). "Teen Motherhood and Abortion Access." Quarterly Journal of Economics 111, 467-506.
Levine, Phillip B. et al. (1999). "Roe v. Wade and American Fertility." American Journal of Public Health 89, 199-203.
Lott, John R. Jr. and John E. Whitley. (2001). "Abortion and Crime: Unwanted Children and Out-of-Wedlock Births." Yale University Law and Economics Research Paper 254.
Lucas, Roy. (1968). "Federal Constitutional Limitations on the Enforcement and Administration of State Abortion Statutes." North Carolina Law Review 46, 730-778.
Meier, Kenneth J. and Deborah R. McFarlane. (1994). "State Family Planning and Abortion Expenditures: Their Effect on Public Health." American Journal of Public Health 84, 1468-1472.
Merz, Jon F., Catherine A. Jackson, and Jacob A. Klerman. (1995). "A Review of Abortion Policy: Legality, Medicaid Funding, and Parental Involvement, 1967–1994." Women's Rights Law Reporter 17, 1-61.
National Center for Health Statistics. (2000). Compressed Mortality File, 1968–1988 (machine readable data file and documentation, CD-ROM Series 20, No 2A). Hyattsville. MD: National Center for Health Statistics.
Paxson, Christina, and Jane Waldfogel. (1999). "Parental Resources and Child Abuse and Neglect." American Economic Review Papers & Proceedings 89, 239-244.
Paxson, Christina, and Jane Waldfogel. (2002). "Work, Welfare and Child Maltreatment." Journal of Labor Economics 20, 435-474.
Paxson, Christina, and Jane Waldfogel. (2003). "Welfare Reforms, Family Resources, and Child Maltreatment." Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 22, 85-113.
Ruhm, Christopher J. (2000). "Are Recessions Good for Your Health?" Quarterly Journal of Economics 115, 617-650.
Seiglie, Carlos. (2003). "Understanding Child Outcomes: An Application to Child Abuse and Neglect." Mimeo, Rutgers University Department of Economics.
Stevenson, Betsey, and Justin Wolfers. (2003). "Bargaining in the Shadow of the Law: Divorce Laws and Family Distress." NBER Working Paper No. 10175.
U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Administration for Children, Youth and Families. (1979). National Analysis of Official Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting, 1977. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth and Families. (2001). Child Maltreatment 1999. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Zuravin, Susan J. (1987). "Unplanned Pregnancies, Family Planning Problems, and Child Maltreatment." Family Relations 36, 135-139.
Zuravin, Susan J. (1988). "Fertility Patterns: Their Relationship to Child Physical Abuse and Child Neglect." Journal of Marriage and the Family 50, 983-993.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bitler, M.P., Zavodny, M. Child Maltreatment, Abortion Availability, and Economic Conditions. Review of Economics of the Household 2, 119–141 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:REHO.0000031610.36468.0e
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:REHO.0000031610.36468.0e