Sex-Selective Abortions, Fertility, and Birth Spacing

Previous research on sex-selective abortions has ignored the interactions between fertility, birth spacing, and sex selection, despite both fertility and birth spacing being important considerations for parents when deciding on the use of sex selec...

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Main Author: Portner, Claus C.
Format: Publications & Research
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank Group, Washington, DC 2015
Subjects:
SEX
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/02/23975715/sex-selective-abortions-fertility-birth-spacing
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/21451
id okr-10986-21451
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-214512021-04-23T14:04:02Z Sex-Selective Abortions, Fertility, and Birth Spacing Portner, Claus C. ABORTION ABORTIONS AMONG WOMEN AGE OF MARRIAGE AGE OF MENARCHE AMNIOCENTESIS BIRTH SPACING CHILD HEALTH CHILDBEARING CONCEPTION CONFERENCE ON POPULATION CONTRACEPTION CRIME CRIMINAL DECLINE IN FERTILITY DEVELOPMENT POLICY EARLY DEATH ECONOMIC DEMOGRAPHY EDUCATED WOMEN EXCESS MORTALITY FAMILIES FAMILY HEALTH FAMILY SIZE FATHER FECUNDITY FEMALE FEMALES FERTILITY FERTILITY INCREASE FERTILITY INCREASES FERTILITY PREFERENCES FERTILITY RATE FETUSES FEWER BIRTHS FEWER CHILDREN FEWER WOMEN FIRST BIRTH FIRST BIRTHS FIRST CHILD GENDER GENDER BALANCE HEALTH STATUS HIGHLY EDUCATED WOMEN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HUSBAND HUSBANDS INEQUALITY INFERTILITY LABOR MARKET LARGE NUMBER OF WOMEN LEVELS OF EDUCATION LIFETIME FERTILITY LOWER FERTILITY MALES MARRIED WOMAN MARRIED WOMEN MENSTRUAL CYCLES MOBILE CLINICS MORTALITY RISK MOTHER MULTIPLE BIRTH NATIONAL FAMILY HEALTH SURVEY NUMBER OF ABORTIONS NUMBER OF BIRTHS NUMBER OF CHILDREN NUMBER OF GIRLS NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS NUMBER OF WOMEN OFFENSE OVULATION OWNERSHIP OF LAND POLICY DISCUSSIONS POLICY RESEARCH POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER PREFERENCE FOR SONS PREGNANCIES PREGNANCY PRENATAL DIAGNOSTIC PRIVATE CLINICS PROGRESS RATIO OF BOYS TO GIRLS REPLACEMENT LEVEL REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH RESIDENCE RURAL AREAS RURAL WOMEN SECOND BIRTH SECOND BIRTHS SEX SEX OF THE FETUS SEX RATIO SEX RATIOS SEX-SELECTIVE ABORTION SEX-SELECTIVE ABORTIONS SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS SON PREFERENCE SPONTANEOUS ABORTION STATUS OF WOMEN STERILIZATION UNWANTED CHILDREN UNWANTED SEX URBAN AREAS URBAN WOMEN URBANIZATION WIFE WILL WOMAN YOUNG AGE Previous research on sex-selective abortions has ignored the interactions between fertility, birth spacing, and sex selection, despite both fertility and birth spacing being important considerations for parents when deciding on the use of sex selection. This paper presents a novel approach that jointly estimates the determinants of sex-selective abortions, fertility, and birth spacing, using data on Hindu women from India's National Family and Health Surveys. Women with eight or more years of education in urban and rural areas are the main users of sex-selective abortions and they also have the lowest fertility. Predicted lifetime fertility for these women declined 11 percent between the 1985-1994 and 1995-2006 periods, which correspond to the periods of time before and after sex selection became illegal. Fertility is now around replacement level. This decrease in fertility has been accompanied by a 6 percent increase in the predicted number of abortions during the childbearing years between the two periods, and sex selection is increasingly used for earlier parities. Hence, the legal steps taken to combat sex selection have been unable to reverse its use. Women with fewer than eight years of education have substantially higher fertility and do not appear to use sex selection. 2015-02-13T19:18:51Z 2015-02-13T19:18:51Z 2015-02 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/02/23975715/sex-selective-abortions-fertility-birth-spacing http://hdl.handle.net/10986/21451 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7189 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank Group, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper South Asia India
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic ABORTION
ABORTIONS AMONG WOMEN
AGE OF MARRIAGE
AGE OF MENARCHE
AMNIOCENTESIS
BIRTH SPACING
CHILD HEALTH
CHILDBEARING
CONCEPTION
CONFERENCE ON POPULATION
CONTRACEPTION
CRIME
CRIMINAL
DECLINE IN FERTILITY
DEVELOPMENT POLICY
EARLY DEATH
ECONOMIC DEMOGRAPHY
EDUCATED WOMEN
EXCESS MORTALITY
FAMILIES
FAMILY HEALTH
FAMILY SIZE
FATHER
FECUNDITY
FEMALE
FEMALES
FERTILITY
FERTILITY INCREASE
FERTILITY INCREASES
FERTILITY PREFERENCES
FERTILITY RATE
FETUSES
FEWER BIRTHS
FEWER CHILDREN
FEWER WOMEN
FIRST BIRTH
FIRST BIRTHS
FIRST CHILD
GENDER
GENDER BALANCE
HEALTH STATUS
HIGHLY EDUCATED WOMEN
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
HUSBAND
HUSBANDS
INEQUALITY
INFERTILITY
LABOR MARKET
LARGE NUMBER OF WOMEN
LEVELS OF EDUCATION
LIFETIME FERTILITY
LOWER FERTILITY
MALES
MARRIED WOMAN
MARRIED WOMEN
MENSTRUAL CYCLES
MOBILE CLINICS
MORTALITY RISK
MOTHER
MULTIPLE BIRTH
NATIONAL FAMILY HEALTH SURVEY
NUMBER OF ABORTIONS
NUMBER OF BIRTHS
NUMBER OF CHILDREN
NUMBER OF GIRLS
NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS
NUMBER OF WOMEN
OFFENSE
OVULATION
OWNERSHIP OF LAND
POLICY DISCUSSIONS
POLICY RESEARCH
POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER
PREFERENCE FOR SONS
PREGNANCIES
PREGNANCY
PRENATAL DIAGNOSTIC
PRIVATE CLINICS
PROGRESS
RATIO OF BOYS TO GIRLS
REPLACEMENT LEVEL
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
RESIDENCE
RURAL AREAS
RURAL WOMEN
SECOND BIRTH
SECOND BIRTHS
SEX
SEX OF THE FETUS
SEX RATIO
SEX RATIOS
SEX-SELECTIVE ABORTION
SEX-SELECTIVE ABORTIONS
SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS
SON PREFERENCE
SPONTANEOUS ABORTION
STATUS OF WOMEN
STERILIZATION
UNWANTED CHILDREN
UNWANTED SEX
URBAN AREAS
URBAN WOMEN
URBANIZATION
WIFE
WILL
WOMAN
YOUNG AGE
spellingShingle ABORTION
ABORTIONS AMONG WOMEN
AGE OF MARRIAGE
AGE OF MENARCHE
AMNIOCENTESIS
BIRTH SPACING
CHILD HEALTH
CHILDBEARING
CONCEPTION
CONFERENCE ON POPULATION
CONTRACEPTION
CRIME
CRIMINAL
DECLINE IN FERTILITY
DEVELOPMENT POLICY
EARLY DEATH
ECONOMIC DEMOGRAPHY
EDUCATED WOMEN
EXCESS MORTALITY
FAMILIES
FAMILY HEALTH
FAMILY SIZE
FATHER
FECUNDITY
FEMALE
FEMALES
FERTILITY
FERTILITY INCREASE
FERTILITY INCREASES
FERTILITY PREFERENCES
FERTILITY RATE
FETUSES
FEWER BIRTHS
FEWER CHILDREN
FEWER WOMEN
FIRST BIRTH
FIRST BIRTHS
FIRST CHILD
GENDER
GENDER BALANCE
HEALTH STATUS
HIGHLY EDUCATED WOMEN
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
HUSBAND
HUSBANDS
INEQUALITY
INFERTILITY
LABOR MARKET
LARGE NUMBER OF WOMEN
LEVELS OF EDUCATION
LIFETIME FERTILITY
LOWER FERTILITY
MALES
MARRIED WOMAN
MARRIED WOMEN
MENSTRUAL CYCLES
MOBILE CLINICS
MORTALITY RISK
MOTHER
MULTIPLE BIRTH
NATIONAL FAMILY HEALTH SURVEY
NUMBER OF ABORTIONS
NUMBER OF BIRTHS
NUMBER OF CHILDREN
NUMBER OF GIRLS
NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS
NUMBER OF WOMEN
OFFENSE
OVULATION
OWNERSHIP OF LAND
POLICY DISCUSSIONS
POLICY RESEARCH
POLICY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER
PREFERENCE FOR SONS
PREGNANCIES
PREGNANCY
PRENATAL DIAGNOSTIC
PRIVATE CLINICS
PROGRESS
RATIO OF BOYS TO GIRLS
REPLACEMENT LEVEL
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
RESIDENCE
RURAL AREAS
RURAL WOMEN
SECOND BIRTH
SECOND BIRTHS
SEX
SEX OF THE FETUS
SEX RATIO
SEX RATIOS
SEX-SELECTIVE ABORTION
SEX-SELECTIVE ABORTIONS
SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS
SON PREFERENCE
SPONTANEOUS ABORTION
STATUS OF WOMEN
STERILIZATION
UNWANTED CHILDREN
UNWANTED SEX
URBAN AREAS
URBAN WOMEN
URBANIZATION
WIFE
WILL
WOMAN
YOUNG AGE
Portner, Claus C.
Sex-Selective Abortions, Fertility, and Birth Spacing
geographic_facet South Asia
India
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7189
description Previous research on sex-selective abortions has ignored the interactions between fertility, birth spacing, and sex selection, despite both fertility and birth spacing being important considerations for parents when deciding on the use of sex selection. This paper presents a novel approach that jointly estimates the determinants of sex-selective abortions, fertility, and birth spacing, using data on Hindu women from India's National Family and Health Surveys. Women with eight or more years of education in urban and rural areas are the main users of sex-selective abortions and they also have the lowest fertility. Predicted lifetime fertility for these women declined 11 percent between the 1985-1994 and 1995-2006 periods, which correspond to the periods of time before and after sex selection became illegal. Fertility is now around replacement level. This decrease in fertility has been accompanied by a 6 percent increase in the predicted number of abortions during the childbearing years between the two periods, and sex selection is increasingly used for earlier parities. Hence, the legal steps taken to combat sex selection have been unable to reverse its use. Women with fewer than eight years of education have substantially higher fertility and do not appear to use sex selection.
format Publications & Research
author Portner, Claus C.
author_facet Portner, Claus C.
author_sort Portner, Claus C.
title Sex-Selective Abortions, Fertility, and Birth Spacing
title_short Sex-Selective Abortions, Fertility, and Birth Spacing
title_full Sex-Selective Abortions, Fertility, and Birth Spacing
title_fullStr Sex-Selective Abortions, Fertility, and Birth Spacing
title_full_unstemmed Sex-Selective Abortions, Fertility, and Birth Spacing
title_sort sex-selective abortions, fertility, and birth spacing
publisher World Bank Group, Washington, DC
publishDate 2015
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/02/23975715/sex-selective-abortions-fertility-birth-spacing
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/21451
_version_ 1764448300427116544