TY  - JOUR
AU  - Bailey,Martha J.
TI  - "Momma's Got the Pill": How Anthony Comstock and Griswold v. Connecticut Shaped U.S. Childbearing
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14675
PY  - 2009
Y2  - January 2009
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14675
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14675.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Martha J. Bailey
University of Michigan
Department of Economics
611 Tappan Street
207 Lorch Hall
Ann Arbor, MI  48109-1220
Tel: 734/647-6874
Fax: 734/764-2769
E-Mail: baileymj@umich.edu
AB  - The 1960s ushered in a new era in U.S. demographic history characterized by significantly lower fertility rates and smaller family sizes. What catalyzed these changes remains a matter of considerable debate. This paper exploits idiosyncratic variation in the language of “Comstock” statutes, enacted in the late 1800s, to quantify the role of the birth control pill in this transition. Almost fifty years after the contraceptive pill appeared on the U.S. market, this analysis provides new evidence that it accelerated the post-1960 decline in marital fertility.
ER  -