The Affordable Health Care Act and Female Livelihood: The Implications of the Medicaid Expansion on U.S. Abortion Rates

Abstract

Implemented into congress in 2010, the Affordable Healthcare Act, also known as Obamacare, introduced new provisions that served to extend additional federal financing to states, covering young adults up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Young women were able to benefit from various aspects such as the young adult provision and the expulsion of cost sharing that allowed them to engage in preventative care treatments and avoid unintended pregnancy. I employ state-by-state data from 2010-2019 and run a cross-sectional and two-way fixed effect regression to estimate the impact on ACA rollout on abortion rates. Data supports significant results that illustrate a decrease in overall abortion rates with the adoption of the ACA with subsequent increases in Medicaid enrollment rates per state. The research provides insight on economic indicators of healthcare policy rollout, while simultaneously discussing the further implications and importance of research focused on women specific data in the United States.