COVID-19 Surgical Abortion Restriction Did Not Reduce Visits to Abortion Clinics

Arbeitspapier

Due to COVID-19, 33 states banned elective medical procedures, and 13 of these states included surgical abortions. We collected street addresses of abortion clinics and linked them to SafeGraph's data on counts of visitors. We found a 32 percent decrease in clinics visits in February-May of 2020 compared to 2019. States that banned elective procedures saw an additional 23 percent decrease in visits. However, there was no significant additional decrease in the states that explicitly banned surgical abortions. We estimate that the decrease in foot traffic over these four months reduced abortions by 9 percent in 2020 relative to 2019.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 13832

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; State and Local Government: Health; Education; Welfare; Public Pensions ; Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health ; Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
• Subject: COVID-19 ; elective surgery ; social distancing ; abortion

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Andersen, Martin ; Bryan, Sylvia ; Slusky, David
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2020

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/227359
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET