New research suggests that women who want abortions but, due to legal limitations, cannot get them ("turnaways") – are three times more likely to slip below the poverty line than those allowed to abort their unborn children. Annalee Newitz summarizes some other findings of The Global Turnaway Study:
Most of the women who were denied an abortion, 86%, were living with their babies a year later. Only 11% had put them up for adoption. Also a year later, they were far more likely to be on public assistance — 76% of the turnaways were on the dole, as opposed to 44% of those who got abortions. [O]nly 48% had a full time job (vs. 58% of the women who got abortions).
She also highlights the researchers' disquieting conclusions about abortion availability and domestic violence:
A year after being denied an abortion, 7% reported an incident of domestic violence in the last six months. 3% of women who received abortions reported domestic violence in the same time period. [Researcher Diana Greene] Foster emphasized that this wasn't because the turnaways were more likely to get into abusive relationships. It was simply that getting abortions allowed women to get out of such relationships more easily. So it's likely that these numbers actually reflect a dropoff in domestic violence for women who get abortions, rather than a rise among turnaways.
The Dish 