Austerity as Reproductive Injustice: Stratified Effects of Local Authority Spending Cuts on Having a(nother) Birth.

Laura Sochas , University of Edinburgh
Jenny Chanfreau, University of Sussex

Qualitative research and feminist theory scholarship have linked austerity cuts in the UK to constraints on Reproductive Justice and infringements on the rights to have children and parent with dignity, particularly for poorer and racialised communities. However, the stratified impact of public funding cuts on the probability of having a(nother) birth by income remains unclear. Using Understanding Society data, we operationalise austerity at the Local Authority level, by examining how cuts to council funding have differentially affected the probability of having a(nother) birth across different income groups between 2009 and 2019. Preliminary findings indicate that cuts in funding within Local Authorities only had a statistically significant negative effect on the poorest tercile’s probability of having a birth. We further analyse whether marginal within effects differ by intersectional groups. We find particularly strong negative effects of cuts in spending for the poorest in: high deprivation areas; in non-White groups; and among people who are not employed. In conclusion, we argue that evidence that council funding cuts have particularly affected the probability of having a(nother) child for the poorest tercile and other marginalised groups provide additional, quantitative evidence of the harmful effects of reproductively unjust policies.

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 Presented in Session 21. Policy Effects on Fertility