Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Date of Award

Summer 8-1-2023

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Advisor(s)

Suja S. Rajan

Second Advisor

Robert O. Morgan

Third Advisor

Ruosha Li

Abstract

Abortion is as old as humanity and exists in all cultures. The number and rate of abortions differ among countries and regions of the world. Some determinants of abortion may include economic indicators and policy restrictiveness. This study analyzes the economic and policy determinants of abortion by evaluating the association of income and policy on abortion rates. It uses a panel data regression to examine the association between income, Gini Coefficient and abortion rates. Gini Coefficient measures income inequality, and GNI represents a country’s income. Publicly available longitudinal data obtained from the World Bank, United Nations, United Nations Population Development United Nations Department of Economic Affairs, and Open Society Framework were used for Aim 1 of this study. Aim 1 hypothesizes that there will be a positive relationship between GNI and abortion rates and a negative relationship between Gini index and abortion rates.

Panel Data analysis of Aim 1 reveals no statistically significant association between abortion rates and GNI on a global scale, and among high-income countries, and middle-income countries. However, a significant positive association between GNI and abortion rates was observed in low-income countries.

Furthermore, the association between policy and abortion was evaluated by using a policy restrictiveness score, and the association between the scores and abortion rates was examined. A linear regression model was used to evaluate this association. Data for this aim were 2017 cross-sectional public data from the World Bank, United Nations, United Nations Population Development, United Nations Department of Economic Affairs, and Open Society Framework.

Results from this analysis reveal a negative, no statistically significant association between the policy scores and abortion rates.

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