RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: This project aims to answer a critically important question of public policy: Does effective child support enforcement lead to a change in the incidence of abortion across the United States? METHODS: Using state-level data collected from 19782003 from a variety of sources, we employ fixed effects regression analysis to examine whether financial security as measured by five types of child support enforcement effectiveness impacts abortion outcomes. RESULTS: We find that child support enforcement effectiveness decreases the incidence of abortion as measured by the abortion rate, but not the abortion ratio. CONCLUSIONS: Income transfer policies such as child support enforcement can affect certain fertility outcomes such as abortion rates across the states.
