Driving the Distance: How Abortion Access Affects Infant and Maternal Health

• In Event: Changes in Abortion Access in the 20th and 21st Centuries

Abstract

Abortion clinic closures lower abortion rates and raise birth rates, in part by increasing the continuation of high-risk, non-viable, and unintended pregnancies. But do these shifts have downstream effects on infant and maternal health? Using 2009-2019 U.S. national vital statistics and facility data from the Myers Abortion Facility Database, I find that a 100-mile increase in driving distance to the nearest abortion provider leads to a 5% increase in deliveries past 42 weeks of gestation, a 2% increase in high birth weight, and a 21% rise in congenital heart disease. Additionally, fetal and infant mortality due to developmental complications increase by 28% and 23%, respectively, and infant mortality due to premature delivery increases by 11%. Except for an increase in vaginal tearing, I find no discernible effect on individual measures of maternal health. My results suggest that if all counties were within 50 miles of an abortion provider, approximately 793 fetal and 646 infant deaths could have been prevented.

Author

• Lilly Springer, University of Kansas
  Presenting Author