Where are all the abortion providers? The effects of policy implementation on abortion markets

Abortion governance reflects a society’s moral and social priorities and operationalizes them through both democratic and market institutions. In countries that recognize a right to abortion, the implementation of the moral position is complicated by the fact that generally, the state relies on private individuals or companies to actually offer the abortion services. The right to choose abortion can therefore be undercut by market forces and social pressures. Policy implementation decisions can appear technical or bureaucratic, but when they systematically result in the abrogation of a democratically-supported right, they are also political. In this paper, I quantitatively analyze a new dataset of abortion providers’ locations in several European countries. I seek to understand how political, economic, and social variables affect abortion providers’ choice of where to locate and offer their services. Without providers, no abortion policy can be effectively administered. By considering the history of local government control, type of healthcare system, and public opinion on social issues, I explain the pattern of disparities in levels of abortion access, as measured by the presence of abortion providers.