Lichter D T, McLaughlin D K, Ribar D C
Population Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA.
Fam Plann Perspect. 1998 Nov-Dec;30(6):281-7.
One of the goals in cutting welfare payments and setting time limits on welfare receipt is the reduction of out-of-wedlock childbearing among poor women. Yet such changes may increase the demand for abortion at the same time that access to abortion has decreased, throwing into doubt the potential effect of these changes on the proportion of women who are heading families.
State and county fixed-effects models were used to estimate the effects of factors influencing abortion availability--geographic access, parental notification requirements and Medicaid funding restrictions--on the county-level proportion of women heading households.
The decline in geographic access to abortion providers during the 1980s accounted for a small but significant portion of the rise in the percentage of women heading families (about 2%). Restrictions on Medicaid funding for abortion accounted for about half of the increase in female headship among blacks, while new state parental notification requirements contributed modestly to the rise in the proportion of white women heading single-parent families.
Welfare reform legislation and attempts to reduce the availability of abortion services in the United States appear to be working at cross-purposes. Cutbacks in access to abortion may have contributed modestly to the increase in the proportion of women heading households.
削减福利金并设定福利领取时限的目标之一，是减少贫困女性的非婚生育现象。然而，此类变化可能会在堕胎可及性降低的同时增加对堕胎的需求，从而使这些变化对女性当家家庭比例的潜在影响受到质疑。
运用州和县固定效应模型，来估计影响堕胎可及性的因素——地理可及性、父母通知要求以及医疗补助资金限制——对县级女性当家家庭比例的影响。
20世纪80年代堕胎服务地理可及性的下降，在女性当家家庭比例的上升中占了一小部分但显著的比例（约2%）。堕胎医疗补助资金限制在黑人女性当家家庭比例的增加中占了约一半，而新的州父母通知要求对白人单身母亲家庭比例的上升贡献不大。
美国的福利改革立法以及减少堕胎服务可及性的举措似乎起到了相反的作用。堕胎可及性的削减可能对女性当家家庭比例的增加有一定贡献。
