Search reports, ask a question, or jump to a page.
The problem
Intervention: Legalization of abortion through changes in national policy
Who it was tested with: Birth cohorts in South Africa with varying access to health care facilities offering abortion services across provinces.
Children or communities are compared with a group that did not receive the intervention, or followed over years. This is the design that best separates what the intervention did from everything else that changed.
"The study examines how abortion legalization influences sexual and reproductive health and women's empowerment in South Africa, using a difference-in-differences design. Analyzing variations in birth cohorts and access to health care facilities with abortion services across provinces..." This design compares affected and less-affected populations over time, meeting criteria for experimental evidence, though inconclusive results prevent clear directional conclusions about policy effectiveness.
Study cannot definitively establish whether lack of causal effects reflects true policy ineffectiveness or implementation barriers and measurement issues from behavioral underreporting. Geographic and cultural variations may limit generalizability.
Across countries and designs
1 study · 1 country
