Legalisation of abortion without restriction as to reason - An event history analysis of the OECD countries 1965-2005

Abstract: This thesis quantitatively investigates under what circumstances countries legalise abortion without restriction as to reason. The interest in this study emerges from a thorough conviction in the right to decide over one’s own and from a wish to understand why some countries reformed their abortion laws several decades ago, whereas others did so more recently. Previous research on the liberalisation of abortion laws has used a less strict definition of legal abortion, but this study focuses on choice. Event history analysis is used to study the OECD countries between 1965 and 2005. Based on previous research, it is hypothesised that an increase in female labour force participation, an increased presence of women in parliament and an increase in individual-level secularisation will increase the probability of a country legalising abortion without restriction as to reason. Surprisingly, using the stricter definition of legal abortion, it is concluded that gendered variables have a marginal (female labour force) or non-existent effect (women in parliament), whereas broader cultural developments such as change in average years of schooling and the level of secularisation are the important factors in understanding the legalisation. A brief empirical look at the cases of Chile and Uruguay clarify the findings.