Abortion demand

Abortion may be characterized as fertility control. Costs and benefits of an additional child are weighed over time. If costs exceed benefits, fertility control is employed. An economic model of abortion demand is developed that incorporates price, income, demographic factors (tastes), and public policy issues such as abortion funding. A key finding is that state abortion funding, substituted for federal funding under Medicaid as a result of the Hyde Amendments, may be important to abortion demand but it is difficult to differentiate its effect from other effects at the state level with an econometric model.