January 22, 2004, 11:19 a.m.
States of Success
Pro-life legislation across the fruited planes.

By Michael J. New

Despite the election and the reelection of a president who was supportive of abortion rights, the 1990s were a surprisingly good decade for pro-life movement. Survey data indicates that by the end of the decade fewer people were willing to support abortion on demand. Even more importantly, the number of abortions declined. For the 46 states reporting data in both 1990 and 1999 the number of abortions fell by over 17 percent.

What is the reason for this decline? The strength of the economy might be partly responsible. However, state level pro-life legislation played an important role as well. Indeed, pro-life legislators enjoyed a considerable amount of success at the state level during this past decade. For instance:

In 1992, virtually no states were enforcing had informed-consent laws, by 2000 27 states had informed-consent laws in effect.

In 1992, no states had banned or restricted partial-birth abortion, by 2000, 12 states had bans or restrictions in effect.

· In 1992 only 20 states were enforcing parental-involvement statutes, by 2000 32 states were enforcing these laws.
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There are two major factors that led to this increase in pro-life legislation. First, in 1992 the Supreme Court in Casey vs. Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania adopted a doctrine of "undue burden." In so doing, the Supreme Court found constitutional some of the policies contained in Pennsylvania's Abortion Control Act. Many in the right-to-life movement were disappointed that the Supreme Court did not use this opportunity to overturn Roe vs. Wade. However, this decision did give pro-life legislators at the state level more freedom to enact laws designed to protect the unborn.

For instance, the Casey decision gave constitutional protection to informed-consent laws. Informed-consent laws differ from state to state. However, they all require women seeking abortions to receive information about the abortion procedure. This can include information about fetal development, the health risks involved with obtaining an abortion, and the public and private sources of support for single mothers.

The second factor that led to an increase in pro-life legislation is the fact that, pro-life legislators made considerable and lasting gains at the state level during the 1990s.

In 1994, Republicans gained majority control of the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate, and both chambers of the state legislature in eleven additional states. Furthermore, the number of states where Republicans controlled both chambers of the state legislature increased from six in 1990 to eighteen in 2000. Since Republicans are generally more pro-life than their Democratic counterparts, these gains in the states made it easier for pro-lifers to enact protective legislation

The question remains, however, what impact did all of this legislation have on the incidence of abortion? A comprehensive study by the Heritage Foundation sheds some light on this question. Examining state abortion data for every year from 1985 to 1999, and holding a variety of economic and demographic factors constant, the Heritage study examines the impact of four common types of pro-life legislation; parental-involvement laws, Medicaid funding restrictions, informed-consent laws and partial-birth-abortion bans.

The findings indicate that each of these four types of legislation resulted in reductions in state abortion rates. Restrictions on the Medicaid funding of abortions had the largest and most statistically significant impact. The enactment of informed-consent laws resulted in statistically significant reductions as well.

This was a particularly interesting finding because informed-consent laws are a relatively recent policy innovation. Since 20 states adopted informed-consent laws between 1992 and 1999, it seems likely that these laws played an especially large role in the decline in abortions during the 1990s. Furthermore, none of the academic studies on state abortion policy even examines the impact of this type of legislation.

Finally, the results indicate that parental-involvement laws resulted in somewhat smaller reductions in state abortion rates. However, the fact these laws only apply to minors makes it difficult to gage their true impact. Similarly, the results indicate that partial-birth-abortion bans only had a marginal effect. However, the fact that many states enacted these bans in 1998 and 1999 meant that there was relatively little data with which to evaluate their effectiveness

Overall, the 1990s were a good decade for the pro-life movement. Pro-life sentiment increased and the number of abortions declined. Additionally, the right-to-life movement enjoyed success both in terms of enacting legislation and devising approaches that are effective in persuading women to seek alternatives to abortion. With a president and majorities in the House and Senate that are largely pro-life, the next decade might be even better.

— Michael J. New is a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard-MIT data center.

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