Gender Preference and Induced Abortion in Korea

Based on the theory of fertility control this paper estimates the effect of gender preference on induced abortions. Using data from the 2003 Korean National Fertility Survey, KLIPS and Population Census, we examine the effect of number of sons and benefits from sons over daughters on induced abortion in Korea. Contraceptive methods are also introduced into the model. The results suggest a positive correlation between the number of sons and induced abortions for the group who intended to have a child. Besides, the relative importance between two motives for induced abortion is correlated with the choice of contraception. In addition, contraceptive failure is proved to be one of the reasons for induced abortion.