Drop in Abortions, Notification Law Linked

Abortion rates decreased significantly among Texas teenagers -- though some got riskier abortions later in pregnancy -- after the state enacted a parental notification law, researchers reported yesterday.

Texas is the biggest of 35 states that require minors to notify their parents or get their consent before obtaining an abortion, although a judge can usually grant a waiver.

Researchers at Baruch College at City University of New York studied the records of teenage abortions and births for the two years before the Texas law took effect on Jan. 1, 2000, and for three years afterward. The study was reported in today's New England Journal of Medicine.

Abortion rates dropped for those ages 15 through 18, even though the 18-year-olds were not subject to the law. But the drop was more pronounced among the younger teenagers.

"The law has definite behavioral effects," said lead researcher Ted Joyce, a Baruch professor of economics.

Birth rates also declined for all ages in the 15- to 18-year-old group. The abortion rate among 18-year-olds fell from 27.7 abortions per 1,000 teenagers before the law to 25.8 afterward. The rate dropped from 18.7 to 14.5 among 17-year-olds; 12.1 to 9.0 among 16-year-olds; and 6.5 to 5.4 among 15-year-olds.

The abortion rate has been falling among all teenagers since 1991 both nationally and in Texas, as have teenage birth rates, for reasons that are believed to include greater use of birth control, more effective methods and a delay in first-time intercourse.