Abortion Ban in USSR in 1936 and its Demographic Consequences

Student: Kornilyeva Maria

Supervisor: Andrei Markevich

Educational Programme: Joint HSE-NES Undergraduate Program in Economics (Bachelor)

Final Grade: 10

Year of Graduation: 2019

This research investigates demographic effects of abortion abolition in 1936 in USSR by examining data on birth, child mortality and stillborn rates in RSFSR regions for 1934-1990 time period. Abortions were legalized in USSR in 1920, then banned in 1936 and finally legalized in 1955. Following the ban in June 1936 1% increase in abortion usage before the reform was associated with 0.34% increase in birth rates, 0.37% increase in child mortality rates and 0.36% increase in stillborn rates. In other words, one standard deviation increase in abortion usage was associated with on average 3.7 more births, 0.25 more child deaths and 0.03 more stillborn per 1000 people. The effect is mostly driven by regions with high share of Russians in the whole population.

Full text (added June 3, 2019)

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