An estimate of teenage abortion demand

This study estimates the demand for abortion by U.S. teenagers (15–19 years of age) for the year 1992. The empirical results found teenage abortion demand was inelastic with respect to price and a normal good with respect to income. Teenage abortion demand was also found to be positively related to state Medicaid funding and labor force participation. Parental involvement laws, welfare benefits, educational attainment, and state abortion attitudes are found to have no statistically significant impact on teenage abortion demand. Teenage abortion demand was found to be coincident with the business cycle. Using data pooled over the years 1992 and 1980, the pooled time-series estimates of the teenage abortion demand model were both quantitatively and qualitatively consistent with the cross-section estimates.