TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Marie, Olivier
AU  - Zwiers, Esmée
        TI  - Religious Barriers to Birth Control Access
        PY  - 2023/Mar/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 16051
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp16051
        AB  - This paper presents new causal evidence on the "power" of oral contraceptives in shaping women's lives, leveraging the 1970 liberalization of the Pill for minors in the Netherlands and demand- and supply-side religious preferences that affected Pill take-up. We analyze administrative data to demonstrate that, after Pill liberalization, minors from less conservative areas were more likely to delay fertility/marriage and to accumulate human capital in the long run. We then show how these large effects were eliminated for women facing a higher share of gatekeepers – general practitioners and pharmacists – who were opposed to providing the Pill on religious grounds.
        KW  - birth control
KW  - religion
KW  - fertility
KW  - marriage
KW  - human capital
KW  - the Netherlands
        ER  -