AUTHORS: Christopher A. Jepsen and Lisa K. Jepsen

PAGES: 40     DATE: July 2003

ABSTRACT: Court opinions claim that one purpose of statutory rape laws is to reduce teenage pregnancies. Using data on over 14,000 teenagers in the June CPS, this paper empirically tests that claim by considering whether unmarried teenage girls covered by a state statutory rape law are less likely to give birth. Identification comes from variation across states in the age of females who are covered by the law as well as from variation over time and across states in the enforcement of the law. In nearly all specifications, statutory rape laws have insignificant effects on nonmarital teenage childbearing.

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