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Economist Phillip Levine uses economic analysis to consider this question: how do individuals change their behavior when abortion access increases? Comparing abortion to a form of insurance, he contends that abortion provides protection from downside risk. Levine discusses ideas from his new book, Sex and Consequences: Abortion, Public Policy, and the Economics of Fertility, published in 2004 by Princeton University Press.

Phillip Levine is a professor of economics at Wellesley College and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. At Wellesley, he teaches classes in social policy, econometrics, and microeconomic theory. He has also served as a senior economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers. His research has largely been devoted to empirical examinations of the impact of government programs and social legislation on individual and business behavior.