Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2006
Abstract
Proponents of laws requiring a waiting period before a woman can receive an abortion argue that these cooling off periods protect against rash decisions on the part of women in the event of unplanned pregnancies. Opponents claim, at best, waiting periods have no effect on decision-making and, at worst, they subject women to additional mental anguish and stress. In this article, I examine these competing claims using adult female suicide rates at the state level as a proxy for mental health. Panel data analyses suggest that the adoption of mandatory waiting periods reduce suicide rates by about 10 percent, and this effect is statistically significant. The result is robust to various attempts to control for unobservable heterogeneity and simultaneity.
Keywords
Sexuality and the Law, Family Law, Health Law and Policy, Women
Publication Title
Health Matrix
Repository Citation
Klick, Jonathan, "Mandatory Waiting Periods for Abortions and Female Mental Health" (2006). All Faculty Scholarship. 1124.
https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/faculty_scholarship/1124
Included in
Econometrics Commons, Family Law Commons, Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Health Law and Policy Commons, Health Policy Commons, Law and Gender Commons, Law and Society Commons, Mental and Social Health Commons, Sexuality and the Law Commons, Women's Studies Commons
Publication Citation
16 Health Matrix 183 (2006).