Research documents that abortion access is associated with better educational and economic outcomes for women. But what about cisgender men?
A new study by CORE-affiliated researchers suggests that abortion policy contexts can also improve — or constrain — young men’s educational paths over time, especially for those young men whose families have the fewest educational resources to begin with.
Bethany Everett, Jessica Sanders, and Jenny Higgins analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. This survey collected information from over 3,000 young men across the U.S. over more than two decades, from their middle or high school years into their 30s and 40s.
The investigators examined whether men’s educational achievement over time was associated with abortion policy context during adolescence. They measured several state-level abortion policies including public funding for abortion, parental consent laws, mandatory waiting periods, and presence of an abortion provider in one’s home county.
The findings showed that for young men whose families had the lowest socioeconomic resources, abortion restrictions worked cumulatively to reduce their educational outcomes over time.
Specifically, for boys whose parents had graduated from high school, abortion restrictions were not associated with educational outcomes over time. However, for those boys whose parents did not have a high school diploma or equivalent, increases in abortion restrictions were related to significantly reduced likelihood of graduating from high school or college, even when controlling for many other factors.
Findings are consistent with decades of research documenting that abortion bans disproportionately undermine the economic futures of people and communities with fewer socioeconomic resources.
At least two mechanisms can explain this relationship. First, young men who become parents at earlier ages may forego or drop out of college or high school to enter the labor force to support their families. Second, young men who are already parents may find that arrival of an additional unplanned or unwanted birth may force them to forego education plans to earn higher incomes.
Findings are consistent with decades of research documenting that abortion bans disproportionately undermine the economic futures of people and communities with fewer socioeconomic resources.
This study comes at a critical time in U.S history when access to abortion is largely determined by a person’s resources and state of residence.
Abortion has long been siloed as a “women’s issue.” But it is paramount to understand the broader impacts of policies that restrict access to abortion, not just on people who can get pregnant, but the overall population, including men.
You can read more in the journal Population Research and Policy Review.