Date of Award
2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Economics
First Advisor
Dr. Melissa Spencer
Abstract
In the United States a household’s highest expenditure is housing. Low-income households feel this more acutely and have higher rates of housing burden. Past research documents a link between financial constraints and abortion. Three studies published in 1988, 2004, 2014 sought to understand the reasons women get abortions, and found that finances are a prominent reason given. If housing is a large share of household finances and finances play a large role in abortion demand, how might housing affect abortions? This study looks at the effect of three housing mechanisms on abortion rates: rent to income rate, mortgage to income rate, and affordable housing units. State level abortion data is utilized to explore the relationship between housing burden and affordable housing access on abortion rates. The results show that there exists a positive correlation between housing burden and abortion rates, yet there was no proof of causation as significance of estimations goes away when controls are added. Furthermore, there are interesting variations in results once controls are added in.
Recommended Citation
Huggard, Isabelle, "The Effect of Housing Burden and Access to Affordable Housing on Abortion Rates" (2024). Honors Theses. 1756.
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/honors-theses/1756