There is evidence in the economics literature that restrictions on
Medicaid funding for abortion reduces the demand for abortion. The
unresolved question is whether such restrictions also increase safe sex
(that is, pregnancy avoidance) behavior among women. This study explores
that issue using state-level gonorrhea rates among women for 1975-1995.
The rationale is that sexual behavior that leads to greater risk of
accidental pregnancies is likely to be highly correlated with sexual
behavior leading to greater risk of STD infection. Since gonorrhea has an
incubation period of about a week, and is transmitted almost exclusively
through sexual intercourse, a change in sexual behavior should soon be
followed by a change in gonorrhea rates. The study used a partial
adjustment model with lagged-dependent variables estimated using
Arellano-Bond's GMM method. Results fail to find any statistically
significant evidence that Medicaid funding restrictions are effective in
reducing gonorrhea rates. This finding is robust to a variety of alternate
specifications and tests. This suggests that restrictions on Medicaid
funding for abortion fail to promote safe sex behavior among women.
Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
