Abstract

PIP: The availability of legal abortion in California appeared to affect California fertility in 1971 with a downward trend in both legitimate and illegitimate births. In 1972 legitimate birth rates continued to fall as rapidly as in 1971 but illegitimacy rates declined less rapidly. Unmarried women continued to be the dominant recipients of legal abortion. Illegitimacy remained at a high level, however, and its rise among white teenagers pointed to the phenomena of women deliberately electing unwed motherhood.