Table 5.
Robustness checks
| (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) | (8) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Any Method | Modern Method | Female Sterilization | Male Sterilization | Modern Method Other Than Sterilization | Traditional Method | Ever Had an Abortion | Share of All Pregnancies Aborted | |
| A. Include Further Controls (see notes for details) | ||||||||
| Number of abortion centers | 0.980** | 0.980** | 0.983† | 1.001 | 0.981** | 0.996 | 1.014† | 0.002** |
| (0.0055) | (0.0062) | (0.0100) | (0.0089) | (0.0041) | (0.0074) | (0.0073) | (0.0002) | |
| Number of observations | 31,762 | 31,762 | 31,288 | 31,743 | 31,762 | 31,325 | 31,045 | 29,063 |
| B. Further Controls + Restrict Sample to Nonsterilized Couples as of March 2004 (results in columns 3 and 4 restricted to DHS 2006 and 2011) | ||||||||
| Number of abortion centers | 0.973** | 0.970** | 0.987 | 1.141† | 0.977** | 0.994 | 1.011 | 0.002** |
| (0.0058) | (0.0067) | (0.0265) | (0.0833) | (0.0044) | (0.0073) | (0.0076) | (0.0002) | |
| Number of observations | 25,890 | 25,890 | 12,095 | 12,026 | 25,890 | 25,517 | 25,264 | 23,214 |
| C. As Panel B + Scale Number of Abortion Centers by District Population | ||||||||
| Number of abortion centers | 0.983 | 0.976† | 1.001 | 1.063† | 0.982* | 1.007 | 1.012 | 0.001** |
| (0.0106) | (0.0122) | (0.0238) | (0.0380) | (0.0083) | (0.0134) | (0.0104) | (0.0004) | |
| Number of observations | 25,890 | 25,890 | 12,095 | 12,026 | 25,890 | 25,517 | 25,264 | 23,214 |
| D. As Panel B + Allow for Time Trends to Vary by District Population | ||||||||
| Number of abortion centers | 0.965** | 0.955* | 0.991 | 1.102 | 0.979* | 1.015 | 1.030* | 0.002** |
| (0.0125) | (0.0173) | (0.0366) | (0.0932) | (0.0083) | (0.0156) | (0.0142) | (0.0004) | |
| Number of observations | 25,890 | 25,890 | 12,095 | 12,026 | 25,890 | 25,517 | 25,264 | 23,214 |
| E. As Panel B + Allow Time Trends to Vary by Region | ||||||||
| Number of abortion centers | 0.965** | 0.960** | 0.941 | 1.142 | 0.971** | 1.009 | 1.018 | 0.002** |
| (0.0077) | (0.0094) | (0.0491) | (0.1005) | (0.0094) | (0.0128) | (0.0166) | (0.0003) | |
| Number of observations | 25,890 | 25,890 | 12,095 | 12,026 | 25,890 | 25,517 | 24,898 | 23,214 |
| F. As Panel B + Allow Time Trends to Differ in Rural and Urban Areas | ||||||||
| Number of abortion centers | 0.977** | 0.976** | 0.994 | 1.142 | 0.977** | 0.993 | 1.017* | 0.001** |
| (0.0059) | (0.0063) | (0.0245) | (0.0950) | (0.0050) | (0.0086) | (0.0084) | (0.0003) | |
| Number of observations | 25,890 | 25,890 | 12,095 | 12,026 | 25,890 | 25,517 | 25,264 | 23,214 |
| G. As Panel B + Allow Time Trends to Differ by Wealth Quintile | ||||||||
| Number of abortion centers | 0.986* | 0.986† | 0.974 | 1.149† | 0.984** | 0.994 | 1.011 | 0.001** |
| (0.0068) | (0.0072) | (0.0264) | (0.0965) | (0.0044) | (0.0088) | (0.0082) | (0.0002) | |
| Number of observations | 25,890 | 25,890 | 12,095 | 12,026 | 25,890 | 25,517 | 25,264 | 23,214 |
Notes: Data are omitted for the following variables: three dummy variables indicating DHS waves; district fixed effects; and controls for urban location, age at interview, religion, education, ideal number of children, control for the number of conflict casualties in the year preceding the survey (per district population as of 1991, the last preconflict population census), whether the woman reports having heard a family planning message on the radio in the last month, whether she was visited by a family planning worker in the previous 12 months, whether she has heard of AIDS, and the SES group to which she belongs (as measured by the her quintile in the distribution of household living standard). Columns 1–7 report odds ratios from a logit model. Column (8) presents coefficients from a linear regression including a constant (coefficient not reported here). District-correlated robust standard errors are shown in parentheses. Regressions are weighted using survey weights. Sample is of married women aged 15–49 who usually reside in the household. Some observations are dropped in columns 3, 4, 6, and 7 because of lack of variation in the value of the dependent variable within district. In panels B–F, columns 3 and 4 exclude observations for 1996 and 2001 because by definition, there is no variation in sterilization status in these surveys after dropping those sterilized before March, 2004. Observations for women who have never had any pregnancy are dropped in column 8 because the share of aborted pregnancies is not defined for these women.
Sources: Authors’ calculations using Demographic and Health Surveys of Nepal (1996–2011) and Technical Committee for Implementation of Comprehensive Abortion Care (2010).
† p < .10; *p < .05; **p < .01